


Officer of the Republic

by GSpectre



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Adventure, Be Careful What You Wish For, Jedi, Learning the Force, Lightsaber Duels, Self Insert, Space Battles, jedi order
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:14:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 107,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24553714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GSpectre/pseuds/GSpectre
Summary: A self insert in the old republic just as it begins to slide into destruction. Ori'Daki try's to learn how to use the Force and become a successful Jedi while holding onto the remnants of his past life.
Comments: 13
Kudos: 33





	1. Chapter 1

**Officer of The Republic**

**or**

**How I learned to live with the Force**

**(Without being turned into a neurotic wreck)**

Fifteen years was all I could think looking over the Coruscant sky line from a balcony in the Jedi Temple. Fifteen years of learning how to control my temper, how to keep silent, and how to deal with the daily assaults on my mental facilities that the force launched. I had been a fan of star wars back before I was reborn, or whatever the hell happened to me, the stories grandeur and scale had called out to me. So sue me, I had always been a sucker for epic space opera. Then I had gone to sleep one night, fully expecting to get up the next day and get to work at my boring job, only to wake up in the body of a three year old Twi’lek. It had been a disconcerting experience to say the least. That would have been acceptable from my perspective after a minor mental break down or two except I was force sensitive and already in the Jedi Temple. Now most fans would have been ecstatic to discover they had been displaced into the body of a Jedi, or more accurately a youngling with the potential to be a Jedi, at least once they got over the weirdness of it and the inevitable depression that came with the realization that their old life was over. Not me. For all my love of the setting the character which had always called to me had not been Luke, Obi Won, or Yoda but rather Han.

I had never been a big fan of the force, Space magic pushing a special destiny always sat poorly with me given my desire for freedom, and I loathed what I read and watch about the Jedi Order. I had hoped that actually living as a member of the Order would convince me I had been incorrect, unfortunately I wasn’t that far wrong. The truth of the Jedi was horrific to my twenty first century sensibilities, Lucas had been far too soft on them in an effort to portray them as the good guys in his films. Let’s be blunt, the Jedi order were a bunch of brain washed slaves shackled by tradition and funding to a dying Republic and had been that way since the Ruusan reformation. My thirty year old mind didn’t like that, after years of being an adult I had enough trouble just accepting people telling me what to do, being a virtual slave on top of that? It was just not on. That said I quickly discovered that while I had some large measure of emotional control in my last life in this one things were just a little bit different.

I had thought that I wouldn’t need to relearn mental and emotional control, but within a week of my arrival at the temple I found my emotions going haywire, my anger being the most explosive part of the mixture. Minor irritants, things like the shape of the rooms being subtly wrong in my eyes, provoked massive temper tantrums and vicious attempts to hurt all around me. The emotional control I had learned in my last life had been washed away by the currents of the force. It was not a situation that was conducive to my continued survival or keeping my already fragile sanity intact.

So I did what the Jedi wanted me too, mostly I spent a lot of time meditating, learning a degree of emotional control that I would have been amazed to find myself possessing in my last life. I learned how to reign in my temper, to hide my feelings behind a blank mask, how to keep my emotions out of the force, and most importantly the force out of my emotions. All the while I prepared for the day I would be able to free myself from the bondage I found myself born into without shooting myself in the foot. Despite my love of the setting I was well aware that life in the Star Wars galaxy was life in a crap sack world.

There was some awesome high tech around, but for about ninety percent of the population, it was way out of reach. There’s a reason why light freighters were so common, and it wasn’t a pretty one. Most worlds didn’t have the income to buy in bulk, about a hundred tons of off world product was about the limit that an average worlds market could bear. The secondary reason for the prevalence of the light freighter was benign, people in my old world mistook space for an ocean, thinking of space ships in terms of the ocean going ships they knew. The truth was that a light freighter had more in common with a tractor trailer then it did with an ocean going cargo ship. I had planned on making use of those two facts for my escape. I might have been cursed, or gifted depending on who you asked, with the Force but I had every intention of being my stories own Han Solo. Unfortunately despite my extensive preparations things went haywire for me before I could put my plan into action.

See I had spent most of my time not spent learning the Jedi essentials (Meditation, Meditation, more meditation, and lightsabre combat), learning how to slice, and reading up on history. Slicing was something I fell into while trying to do historical reports for my classes and get a bit of pleasure reading in. The High council was a bit leery of letting the initiates learn about the times before Russan, especially about the New Sith Wars, and in order to find the data I learned how to hack the archives from the inside. Hacking in from outside might have been impossible, but using the force to persuade the non force sensitive network administrator to grant me an administer account and giving myself a higher clearance and more permissions was doable. From that beginning I had gone on to own the Jedi’s administrative computer systems… well not really, but I had been able to find pretty much any information that I wanted given enough time.

One of the first things I had done was figure out just how likely I was to survive being a Jedi, and how likely I was to be given to a Knight as a Padawan as opposed to being sent to one of the Jedi Service Corps. What I found wasn’t a pretty picture. Being a Twi’lek I only had a twenty percent chance of being taken as a Padawan, a figure made worse by my insistence that I use a reverse grip when using Shien and Djem So. Deviations were not encouraged and despite my best efforts to appear to be conforming, sometimes I just couldn’t do it. Not comforting when you find out that those who fail to conform have a fifty percent higher casualty rate even if they are lucky enough to be accepted as Padawans. Given my species already high rates of attrition in the Jedi ranks… that was not a comforting thing to learn.

So I had planned out my escape. I had hacked the republics central records, an actual legitimate hack this time one that took me three weeks to execute, and prepped to take a light freighter out of impound then disappear into the galaxy. Of course that plan was shot down in flames as soon as the Naboo crisis reared its head. I remembered the movies well enough to know that I was now on a deadline, I had ten years before the Clone Wars began and then three years of war before order sixty six went into effect and the Empire started to hunt down and kill all the force sensitives it could. I had planned on disappearing, but now? I was caught in a trap. I needed training in order to hide myself from the Empire, when it rolled around because there sure as shit wasn’t a damn thing that one initiate from a species better known for criminals and whores then heroes could do to prevent that from happening, but I was likely to die while getting that training. Worse still the order was expanding and I had been tapped as a Padawan for a very green Knight.

He had just been knighted a week ago, which did not raise my confidence in his ability to keep me alive. They never mentioned it in the movies but as soon as the Naboo crisis was resolved there were a raft load of promotions in the Order. Along with several other initiatives clearly meant to get the Order as a whole ready for action. It looked to me like the High Council was trying something smart, though I didn’t know if it would work or not, at least in the short term as I was well aware that in the long run it was doomed to failure, and trying to surge the number of Jedi available for missions. Clearing the decks as it were as they discovered that they were wrong about the eradication of the Sith.

If you looked at the promotions as they occurred and the missions that the newly promoted got it was clear that the Jedi were clearing for action. The Temple rumour mill was rife with whispers about a real live Sith being found, and the High Council was responding without saying anything officially to the lower ranks. That had of course had the opposite effect then what was intended. Many in the order where whispering about a Sith legion being found, and a new war being just over the horizon. While some did up their training regime and try to get ready for combat most spent their time either dismissing the rumours or panicking in a very restrained way as they realised just how un prepared they were for serious combat. The High Council’s policies about the new promotions weren’t helping that rumour die down in the least. The newly promoted were being assigned to the easier missions, clearing away the rather large backlog that had built up, trying to clear the dockets as well as prepare the next generation for war. While the Republic as a whole undoubtedly enjoyed this sudden surge of law and order, along with a boost to the number of potentially sticky situations being resolved diplomatically before they could erupt into violence, the Jedi were not any more prepared to fight then they had been before Naboo.

* * *

Skrath Kri looked at the ridged back of his new padawan and repressed a sigh. He had his work cut out for him with this one. Running his scarred working man’s hands over his blocky face Skrath wished that he hadn’t been persuaded to take a padawan as soon as he had been knighted. He was an investigator, infiltrator really, and it showed at times. Looking over his Padawan he had to question his sanity, the boy just didn’t have the right physicality for the job. Instead of being painfully average looking, as Skrath himself was, Ori’Daki had a striking teal skin colour, lithe swimmers build, and was just this side of being a pretty boy. Of course the last was a facet of his race, Twi’leks tended to either be very pretty, especially if they kept themselves in shape, or horrendously ugly, if they let themselves go. A sad reminder of the millennium of slavery the race had endured, and was still enduring.

If it hadn’t been for the intervention of Master Nu he would never have picked the young Twi’lek, or anyone really. The initiates at the temple were taught the most ridged of dogma and it didn’t work well out in the field. Setting aside his padawans race, and the restrictions that brought, every report from his teachers and his clan master made it clear that the young man was a trouble maker through and through. He was a skilled trouble maker, one who spent more time trying than anyone else in his class, but still a trouble maker. That was a very large part of why he had chosen the initiate as his padawan. Still Master Nu’s words rang through his head yet again:

“He is the best electronic investigator around, and if no one chooses him we are going to lose him. He has enough access to the temples computers that should he choose to disappear we will never see him again unless he wants us to.” Nu had shaken her head in fond exasperation while relating that little tidbit.

“And would this really be such a bad thing?” Kri had responded lightly. Still trying to process his very recent promotion from padawan to knight and the directive to pick his own padawan. He didn’t feel ready, but as the situation had been explained to him he understood it. Jedi Investigators were a rare breed and with the Sith being on the move again the Order would need to increase their numbers in an effort to ferret out where the Sith were hiding. Not to mention the amount of work that would need to be done in order to ferret out just what the Sith had put into play while they had been hidden from the Jedi’s eyes. Those were in his mind the more dangerous and worrying aspect of this news, especially since the Sith were bold enough to move openly to Skrath. It meant they had a dagger ready for the Jedis back, and he was well aware that a dagger would be more dangerous then any open move by the Sith.

“Yes, he was an angry youngling which hurt his perceived worth among the more traditional members of the order, and while he has learned control… Ori’Daki has been made more dangerous for it.” Nu let loose a sad sigh as she spoke. “Ori views himself as being trapped in slavery, and from his point of view he isn’t wrong. I tend to think that his race has played a major part in his worldview and the prejudices about race he is acutely aware of. It makes him very sensitive to even the slightest perception that he is enslaved. If the Order attempts to put him in the Agricorps, as opposed to the educational corps or even the explorer corps, as the more traditional masters are already agitating for, he will disappear for a time and then come back looking to save his fellows because his prejudices will have been confirmed.”

“So you want a new knight to take on an already half renegade padawan,” Kri pinched the bridge of his nose and tried not to swear aloud. “You do know that this has disaster written all over it, don’t you?”

“All investigators are half renegade. It’s the nature of the job,” Nu snorted out. “You know that better than anyone in the temple aside from the High Council. This is a case of slotting a round peg into place.”

“Does he even have the temperament to learn what I would teach him?”

“Actually yes, he is already an accomplished slicer, not to mention he is skilled with Shien, Djem So, and Niman including the Jar’kal variants of those forms. He also has the patients to learn and understand your skills, as his escape plan shows. He has waited years, letting the council do what they would with him but all that time preparing an escape route, not overlooking details like not having a valid pilots licenses. I know for a fact he has one alternate identity set up, and he has papers saying he can do everything that he was taught in the Temple. He even went so far as to get himself tested for his basic education requirements in his alternate indentitie, which he passed with flying colours. Ori is a smart young man, and he will take to your teachings like a duck to water. He’s good, almost as good as he thinks he is, even if his preparations weren’t as unnoticed as he believes they were. Give him a chance.”

Kri had meditated on master Nu’s words, in the end she made sense. The young man could be a tremendous asset in his investigations and to the Order as a whole in time. The problem would be to convince him that he should support the Order as a whole. That would be a long process and one he thought he had best get started on rather than standing here watching his padawan like a stalker.

“Ori’Daki?” Skrath asked mildly, fully expecting the young man to flinch or react in some way. He had seemed lost in his thoughts, not a good first impression considering just how long Skrath had stood watching him. The boy would need to improve his situational awareness.

“And you would be Knight Skrath Kri, investigator at large reporting directly to the High Council,” Ori responded mildly not even turning around. Skrath reached out through the Force and was surprised to find that his padawan was feeling him through the Force. It seemed that the young man wasn’t as hopeless as he had thought. Clearly he had good sensing skills if nothing else. “Do you want the orders we are going to be getting tomorrow, or did you just come by to pick me up?”

“I did not realize that you knew what our orders would be,” Skrath responded meditatively. It seemed that his padawan was trying to impress him, a good sign. “If I may ask how did you find out?”

“Master Fisto always uses that same password, he just changes the last two digits of it to match the year when he needs a new one,” Ori shrugged completely missing Skrath’s look of annoyance as he casually listed off a security violation that should have been reported years ago. “Of course I think the mission as it is written is doomed to failure, but what can you do?”

“Oh?”

“Crash investigation of the Trade Federation? When they have to know we are coming? Idiocy… although I can see why they would assign you.”

“No specifics?”

“In your hands master,” Ori’s last word was edging into sarcasm. Skrath could tell that the padawan had gotten to his own public records.

“So did you ready my public records or the eyes only Council file I have?” Skrath walked up and leaned on the rail besides his padawan.

“Public, I couldn’t get into the Council’s files without two Master’s pass codes and Fisto is the only one I have put forth the effort to obtain.” Ori shrugged lightly. “Frankly it’s a bunch of bantha poodo, but the medical records you have tell a different story.”

“How did you get into the records if you don’t mind me asking?” Skrath scratched behind an ear and focused on the young Twi’lek. He needed to know if he could expect honesty, dishonesty, or evasion from his padawan. It would shape how he thought of the young man in the years to come. It would also be instructive on how to teach the young man and mould him into the Jedi that he had the potential to become.

“A temple education is worth Sith spit in the real world,” Ori started slowly. “What is taught here is taught very well, but the mundane jobs… well the Council out sources rather than training up a force sensitive who is not going to be a padawan. One mind trick and I had access to the entire system on an administrative level.”

“That was…” Skrath could feel his head beginning to ache. The lack of care about the implications of his actions was worrying.

“I’m not the first, nor will I be the last.” Ori shrugged. “I got the idea after I watched a couple of knights do the same damn thing.”

“And that would have been your defence wouldn’t it?”

“Along with announcing just what they were up to… After all I just gave myself access, I didn’t try and give myself a new ID and a couple of million credits.”

“Explain now,” Skrath asked in a very hard voice. The corruption he saw out in the galaxy was bad enough but to hear about it in the Order itself was an infuriating experience.

“What, you expect that everyone will just accept their slavery and not try to rip off their owners on their way to freedom?” Ori smirked as he said that. “I wouldn’t tell you who they were or where they went if you paid me. I’m not a rat.”

“I can see that this is going to be a very interesting experience for me….” Skrath spoke slowly containing his anger and making a mental note to make damn sure he wormed the names out of his padawan. The knights involved had probably been investigating someone on the senate budget committee, but better for him to check and be sure then for his faith in the Order to be undermined.

* * *

Skrath Kri looked over the training hall as he spoke with Master Windu. After his padawan had been proven correct about their orders he had begun to look for an infiltration route, as of yet he hadn’t found it but his padawan did have a good suggestion. Going in as criminals would be the easiest and safest way to go. After his first idea of going to the Federation as a customer just wouldn’t fly, the Trade Federation would find them out when they vetted their newest client and then things would get interesting. Even if the Trade Federation did the smart thing he and his padawan would fail and be marked for their entire time on world, making the mission a bust from the start. Much better to come in as a scavenger looking for an advantage out of the Trade Federations recent misfortunes. It was believable and would get them on the ground with minimal suspicion, not to mention that they would only need to dodge the Federations police as opposed to their security services.

“So Master Windu, you wished to speak with me?” Skrath asked mildly. Windu was a known quantity and him breaking his pattern was always a bad thing. Given what Kri thought the man wanted to talk about he had a feeling this was a conversation he wasn’t going to enjoy.

“Yes, I was wondering just how you picked your padawan? I know he does have some of the skills you use in your line of work but…” Windu grimaced slightly. “He isn’t as good as he thinks he is and he has a reputation already.”

“Actually he is almost as good as he thinks he is.” Kri said sourly. “Internal security checks have caught his slicing a few times, but that’s been him testing his newest software and attacks from what Master Nu’s research uncovered. His preparations to leave the Order might have been caught but that was luck more then anything else, or if you prefer the will of the force. Even then I’m still not convinced that he doesn’t have another identity that hasn’t been compromised ready to go. You have to realize that he has the internal systems of the Temple completely compromised, up to the Council’s level. Thank the force that some information is under double password lockout, or greater security, if it wasn’t I doubt we would have a secret left from him.”

“Really?” Windu raised an eyebrow. “I thought that Temple security had a better handle on the level of threat that he represented.”

Both men paused their conversation as Master Koon sent Ori tumbling over the mat with a force enhanced kick. The padawan was sparing with the master, and not doing that well. Admittedly he was doing well for a fresh padawan, but all that meant was that it took Plo Koon about a half a minute to break down the padawans guard and hit him. It was a bit of a pathetic match, but Ori kept getting back up and trying again.

“He’s not a physical threat and probably never will be. I would actually rate his threat level lower then Temple security has because he isn’t inclined to rock the boat without a plan. Then again there is the chance he kriffs something up,” Kri acknowledged with a wince as his padawan went flying yet again. “He’s a thinker and a planner. You give him enough time and access and he can be deadly. Did you know that he’s spent the last two years learning tactical blaster fighting from a retired senatorial commando? Mostly because he thinks that there’s a real chance he will need it, and so acted to plan ahead. We only know about it because we’ve been paying for the lessons.”

“No I wasn’t aware of that. Still it begs the question of why you felt the need to take on this particular headache…”

“Because the kids potential incarnate in my line of work,” Skrath said seriously turning to the older human. “Given what I do and what you want people like me to do we need someone of his potential out in the field not sitting on a farm somewhere grubbing dirt. Investigators are always perceived as loose cannons, mostly because of the nature of our work. Master Nu brought him to my attention and I liked what I saw.”

“And his loyalty?”

“Can be earned in time. He’s a cynical bugger, I’ll give you that, but the problem with breaking him of that mental habit is he’s an informed cynical bugger. He’s also loyal to individuals, not organizations. If I can earn his loyalty, we’ll have it for life. Just don’t try treating him like you would a normal padawan.”

“Exceptions make my teeth hurt,” Windu said flatly. “Following our code and traditions has brought us a thousand years of peace. I don’t like that we’re throwing so many away so quickly. I would much rather it be a more gradual process, if things do need to change.”

“You have doubts?”

“I think the appearance of a strong Sith for the first time since we wiped out the old order has spooked us and we’re reacting not acting. One only needs to look at the change in our procedures in order to bulk up the Order to know that. You know as well as I do that’s the first step in making a mistake. With this Skywalker business on top of it?”

“I can see that, but in his case… change is needed. How many investigative branch padawans have we lost in the last ten years?” Skrath shook his head in exasperation and took another tact. “You know I’m one of the few to make it to Knight in the last decade. Perhaps our selection criteria’s flawed. So in a way I’m using him as an experiment, especially if we contrast his career trajectory against that of Knight Barorians new padawan we will have quantifiable evidence of some sort of failure in pre-training for the investigative branch… so take that as you will.”

“Sith spit…” Windu said with a frustrated grunt. “Unfortunately you’re right about that. I hadn’t thought about the numbers. I need some time to meditate on all these changes but I just don’t have it.”

“Make it then, you yourself said we’re reacting not acting. Make the time to really meditate on one problem at a time.”

“I will,” Windu paused as he prepared to walk off. “And may the force be with you on your mission.”

“And you on your meditations,” Skrath replied absentmindedly before turning back to the spectacle of his padawan getting thrown around the training mats. For a moment he contemplated stepping but then decided against it. It was character building and his padawan needed all the help he could get in that department.

* * *

“So my Padawan, what do you think of our new ship?” Skrath smirked as he said that. Ori could swear that his master’s sadistic amusement was visible from orbit as he brought Ori to look at their ride to Neimoidia.

“Ghtroc 440,” Ori tried to keep his voice steady and not explode in fan boyish glee. Some things still, even after all these years here, brought out his inner fan boy and star ships and fighters were one of them. He had dreamed of space and interstellar travel for his entire old life. Reading sci fi and speculating about the ships and stories on the internet had been a major hobby of his. As soon as Ori had been able to he had set about acquiring one of his most prized possessions; a personal star pilots license. Having that license and the ability to roam the stars at will had been one of the anchors keeping him sane. After all it was a promise of something he had dreamed of his whole last life so it made an excellent mental touchstone, a reminder that dreams could be achieved here.

“Yes, I took your advice and looked over the impound yards. Apparently her former owners didn’t get the message that transporting slaves onto Coruscant is something the Judicial Force objects to.” Skrath said with a bit of humour in his voice.

“So she’s a slaver not a smuggler,” Ori tried to hide his disappointment and could tell that he failed. “Damn… we’re going to have to do a lot of work in order to get her up to spec.”

“We padawan mine?”

“Master…”

“No, no this was your idea, so consider it a test. Just how well will you refit this freighter in a month’s time?” That son of a…. silently Ori fumed for a bit before he got a wicked idea. With the aid of droids he could do a lot with the ship in a month’s time. Especially since he would need to do the work in the Jedi Temple’s refit bays, which mean that more experienced people would be on hand to correct any mistakes that he made. He fully intended to make the ship into an awesome tramp freighter like the Millennium Falcon, customized to hell and back. The only question was if he had the resources or not.

“And the parts I will need?”

“Oh, you have access to the scrap yard and the impound yard… do try and have fun.”

“Oh, of course master….” Ori tried to restrain his maniacal laughter and only barely succeeded.

* * *

A month later and Skrath was singing a different tune. He had thought that Ori would work on the ship but he hadn’t expected this. Ori had made some major modifications but not the modifications that he had expected.

“So what do we have?”

“The good ship Serenity,” Ori replied with a grin. “She’s not much to look at but she’ll get you where you’re going. Three times the speed of a stock 440 in hyper, half again the speed in real space, armed with two laser turrets, one dorsal and one ventral with paired cannons mounted on the turret assembly, a pair of concussion missiles aft, most of a CR70’s sensor suite, and the computers from a Consular class cruiser to process the data, along with most of a Consular classes communications suite shoe horned in. I couldn’t mount a Hypercom, just didn’t have the room, but I did manage to squeeze in all of the local space stuff. Basically she looks like a tramp, has enough hidden compartments to fake it as a smuggler, but really is an espionage ship.”

“You seriously mounted a capital sensor suite on a light freighter?” Skrath asked with his eyes wide and a slight shake of his head. He had expected to be presented with an optimized blockade runner, not what he had been given. Very few people would have thought about the communications suite, or the computer upgrade, instead they would have focused on the engines and the weapons. Ori it seemed had actually thought about what they would need for this mission, and despite himself Skrath was impressed. Even the engine upgrade seemed to be more of an excuse to enlarge the power budget, rather than being done for the sake of making the ship faster. It, along with the weapons upgrades, did help their cover but the practical thinking behind it was rather pleasing to see. It seemed that Ori was less of a flight risk then he had thought, and he hadn’t thought that the young man was very likely to run to begin with.

“Why not, I had the power to work with and the sensors just lying around,” Ori returned with a shrug. “She’s now a currier registered out of Nal Shaddaa… should help with our cover and explain just why she is the way she is.”

“How in the world did you manage that?”

“Paid the embassies commercial attaché ten thousand credits.”

“Morality, you do remember that we represent the Jedi order don’t you?”

“Nope, not on this run,” Ori grinned as he said that. “Besides it’s not like we paid for it. I sliced into the senate’s discretionary funds and routed the cash draw back to the Trade Federation’s delegation. As far as the rest of the world is concerned their senator needed ten thousand in cash…”

“Morals, we are going to need to work on your morals padawan mine.” Skrath shook his head in exasperation. “I presume that she’s ready to fly?”

“Fully fuelled and provisioned. I also managed to find a cargo, about a hundred of the Revenue Services next gen astro mech droids. I imagine that they can be sold pretty easily to accounting firms on Nemotodia. I managed to get a few extras as well… not like the Temple will miss them.”

“I hesitate to ask but…”

“Oh, you know those stinger droids that the Temple provides for us to work on our anti blaster sabre work? I got twelve of them. I figured they would give us something to do in the cargo hold at least for the way out. After all Master, you didn’t want me to find another cargo.”

“You do know that we are Jedi, not free traders right?”

“Could have fooled me,” Ori just ignored his master and continued on blissfully. “I rather like the idea of being a free trader after all. Besides, she’s a good ship and with the extra computer power I managed to pack in I can probably slice anything….”

“Like that’s going to do us any good.” Skrath frowned a bit at his padawans arrogance. “You do know that not all the data we need will be on their computers correct?”

“Oh I am aware, I just thought that we would be doing the first pass electronically.” Ori frowned in concentration worrying his lip lightly as he thought about it. “I figured that would give us something to work with on a follow up investigation. Especially since we’re going to have to contact the underworld to find a cargo off planet in order to have an excuse to return rather than just parking the ship.”

“That is a good point, now come my padawan. We will retire to the temple for the night and then take off in the morning. In the mean time I have something for you to learn.” Skrath frowned slightly as he only felt mild interest through the force. He knew that his padawan had excellent emotional control but still to see it was something else. It was a good sign considering just what he wanted the young Twi’lek to learn, but at times it was disconcerting. A padawan should be jumping up and down in excitement when told that he was going to learn something, since it was implied to be a Force skill. Everyone in the Order was well aware that padawans always thought that gaining new Force skills were more important than refining there old ones. Though he had to admit he would need to work on not feeling everyone around him through the force at all times, Ori being able to contain his excitement had thrown his mental processes off. After all he had gotten used to knowing just about everything that every being around him was thinking through the force.

“What oh great and terrible master?” came the sardonic reply as his padawan followed him into the freighter.

“Force concealment. You are already adept at hiding your intentions and thoughts through the force, but your presence still stands out like a beacon in the night. In order for you to be a successful investigator you will have to learn how to control your presence in the force, rather than just washing it clean as you do now." Then came the excitement, Skrath repressed a chuckle with the ease of long practice. This was a skill that Ori wanted with a naked mental lust that was undeniable. It seemed that while his padawan was reserved he did have the same wants as a normal padawan, he just had higher standards for what excited him. Then again this was not the usual skill taught to a padawan, and Ori likely took it as a mark of trust rather than the necessity it was. Force concealment was a skill that Skrath knew from bitter personal experience took years to develop properly. If his padawan was ever deployed to hunt down a rogue initiate, Dark Jedi, or a dark side user of any power he would need the skill desperately. Better he start learning it now, and have it mastered long before he needed it, then trying to crash learn it while on the way to the last known location of a dark side user. Besides with Ori diverted to learning this skill he would be less likely to try and ask for new techniques every two minutes thereby saving Skrath a headache in the long run.


	2. 2

Skrath watched his padawan sit in the Serenity’s dining nook, surrounded by data pads and print outs which had long since buried the table they ate at, studying as if his life depended on it. That it very well could be the case reinforced in his mind that he had chosen well. Perhaps not perfectly given what Ori had been up to while Skrath completed his own preparations but well. Skrath acknowledged that his padawan was putting in the time and effort needed to prepare for the assignment but the way he had gone about collecting the data that he thought was needed was disquieting. He had been told that his padawan was a political creature, but that had not been in evidence in his preparations.  
  
Knowing his limits, Skrath had wanted to do his own preparations in private. He had especially not wanted to have a green padawan around while he debriefed the crustier of the Guardians he had needed to talk to. He also felt that Ori would get more out of spending his limited free time in the Temple working on his saber forms and interacting with members of the Order as more than an initiate. For Ori, the alternative to staying in the Temple was being dragged all over the Colony region by his Master and then left to stew on the ship. Especially since the Trade Federation was active in such a wide area, the number of stops would have been rather excessive. He supposed that he could have had his padawan work on a Force skill or two, but that would have exacerbated the typical padawan obsession with learning a greater number of Force skills than their peers. It was an attitude that Skrath had every intention of keeping his own padawan from developing. Skrath was used to working on his own, and hadn’t really thought through the amount of supervision that he should have been giving his padawan. Instead he had assigned a couple of goals to take up his padawans time, in addition to overseeing the refit of the ship, while he did the needed leg work to prepare for their mission.  
  
The solitary nature of investigations and the way Skrath’s own padawan years had gone meant that he didn’t really think of Ori as a learner. Skrath instead thought of him as a Jedi in need of seasoning, and mentorship, before he was unleashed on the galaxy. His own Master had given him wide latitude, and very little oversight during his padawan years. He had always credited that very freedom of action for why he had survived his padawan years while so many of his fellows had not. Ori was self-directed enough that such a strategy could work, but Skrath would need to keep a closer eye on his methods then he had thought he would. Still Ori had done a good job with the background investigation even if he had received substandard direction on how he should have gone about getting said investigation acomplished. He had also done a very competent job of gathering the needed data, had Skrath not been so upset by the methods used he would have been forced to acknowledge that Ori was displaying a level of competence that most padawans took at least three years to develop.  
  
Ori had started conventionally enough using the library, and pulling all of the reports he could from the council archives. Most of which were filled with background data, and as such of little use for their mission, but a solid grounding to understand the situation they were walking into. He had even gone so far as to requisition the reports from the Jedi Guardians assigned to Neimoidia’s sector, a step further than Skrath would have gone at his age. It was especially notable to Skrath because Ori had needed to go through channels in order to get access to those reports. Temple security had recently reclassified a lot of documents which now required the password of an Archivist of sufficient standing’s password as well as a Master's password to unlock. It was a system which would not be kept in place long, as those who worked out in the field were overly affected by it, but it should last long enough that Ori’s access to Master Fisto’s passwords was corrected along with the other holes in the Orders data security that Ori had found being filled. It was a bit of long overdue maintence in Skrath's eyes, and one that was reaping rewards from the fire that Master Nu had been spitting the last time he saw her. It seemed that some idiots had been erasing part of the Temple of First Knowledge's records, or reclassifying them, an act which had then entire Council of First Knowledge on the war path. There he had found more relevant data, especially the data about the Trade Federation's practices and corporate structure. All of which were well thought out preparations. Unfortunately for Skrath's peace of mind Ori hadn’t thought that the data he needed was there and so had gone to outside agencies for specific data and more worryingly support.  
  
Ori had gone to the offices of Senator Beolars Bribbs, and gotten support and data from there. He had even gotten one of the staffers in that office to give him permission to reroute the R3’s that were their cargo. In doing so he had moved himself, and through his association the Jedi Order as a whole, from being an impartial mediator to an active participant in the corporate dominance games that were wrecking the galaxy. Bribbs SoroSuub Corporation and through them the Commerce Guild would be given an advantage over the Trade Federation because of Ori’s actions. They could think that Ori’s actions were an official shift in policy by the Jedi Council, not knowing that it was the actions of a single padawan, not that the good Senator or any of his staff would know his rank probably having assumed that he was a knight given Ori’s lack of a padawan braid, who had vastly overstepped his authority. They could now think of the Jedi as an active participant in business politics, one that needed to be watched and thwarted just like any other agency or mega corp.  
  
“You’re still worried about the way I got my cargo and the data aren’t you?” Ori commented without looking up. It seemed that Skrath had stood there long enough for Ori to notice him and then scan him with the Force, which was another problem that Skrath would have to deal with. Ori should have been aware of him as soon as he walked into the room and his Force sense should have automatically given him an idea of why Skrath was worried rather than the padawan having to take action in order to ascertain those facts.  
  
“I am, do you know why?” Skrath asked while seating himself across from his padawan.  
  
“Probably the conflict of interest,” Ori replied with a shrug. “I admit that it was not the most orthodox of ways to go about gathering the data that I needed but Senator Bribbs was the most convenient and his staff was kind enough to put me in touch with the Internal Revenue Service.”  
  
“That is part of the reason, I will admit, but there is a second part you have obviously not thought about…” Skrath trailed off and gave his padawan a look, trying to see if the young Twi’lek would understand. Considering Ori’s confusion and his cocked head, indicating that Skrath should go on, he didn’t see the issue. “You not only unilaterally moved the Jedi from a neutral mediator’s stance…”  
  
“Oh, that? Load of bullocks. No one at that level of politics, hell all the way down to the lowest republican functionary believes that load of bantha dung. The Jedi’s pretence of neutrality is a cloak so threadbare as to be useless. Given the elevation of Senator Palpatine to the chancellorship those in the political class, when they hear about this, will just assume that it was a directive that came out of his office as a response to the Naboo crisis using his own resources.” Ori interrupted Skrath, his voice carrying an edge of distain. “Nothing has changed either materially or in terms of perceptions.”  
  
“Really? And a padawan did not just rewrite the policies of the Jedi Order without bothering to clear it with his own Master, not to mention the High Council?” Skrath replied, his voice taking a real edge as he prepared to chew out his padawan. “This isn’t some minor Temple spat over dogma where when everything is over you can just ignore the consequences. This is the real world and you just put the High Council into a position they emphatically did not want to be in. While I agree that the Jedi as a whole have been losing their cloak of neutrality for years, a large part of that loss has come from senatorial directives, the majority of which we have successfully ignored. Every time the Council gives in to the will of the Senate and acts as the Senate directs we lose a little more prestige and a little more room to maneuver. The Council has avoided the stupider directives coming out of that chamber and you just made that harder by making it look like the Chancellor's office can issue us instructions as it pleases. That doesn’t even get into the political fight you might have set off when the other Senators start trying to attack the Chancellor's office because of a directive that he never issued.”  
  
Skrath paused his rant, giving his padawan a baleful eye. What he saw was reassuring, Ori had hunched over a bit and was clearly uncomfortable with the tongue lashing he had just received. In some ways Skrath had to acknowledge that this was a problem he had allowed to develop by not keeping a close enough eye on his padawan. From all of the other Masters he had talked to about teaching a padawan it was a problem that should never have developed this early. He should have had a year or two of the padawan following his lead closely while trying not to screw up before he gained the self-confidence to take truly independent actions. It seemed that his padawan was ahead of the curve on his development in that way, as Skrath had been hoping to encourage. Unfortunately it seemed that his initial evaluation of just where his padawan was had been in error, leading to him attempting to foster an independent streak which was already present and inadvertently allowing his padawan to screw up by the numbers. Of course all of the Masters he had asked for advice from hadn’t had padawans as self-possessed and competent as Ori was. Given the way that Ori had reacted to his prodding in the Temple over his hacking and general disregard for those regulations that he viewed as being in his way Skrath should have expected something like this. He should have taken Ori with him when he went off to do his own background research, or given him clear instructions about how he was to complete his tasks, but hadn’t thought about it at them time.  
  
“Should I pack my things then?” Ori asked in a small voice.  
  
“Oh, no, you are not getting off that easily,” Skrath replied with a grin. “You are going to have to do a bit of work in order to get yourself out of Hutt space with me, but I do acknowledge that everything you did was sensible, from a certain point of view, and aimed at completing the mission. It was also, despite being completely idiotic, competently done. You just showed a bit too much initiative in a situation that you didn’t have all the facts for.”  
  
“So what is going to be my punishment Master?” Ori asked, clearly nervous.  
  
“I want a twenty page paper from you on every negative outcome that your actions could possibly cause along with plans to mitigate them,” Skrath started while watching Ori closely. He wanted this to be a learning experience as well as a punishment, but given how happy Ori was with just getting that work assigned to him he obviously had gone too far in the learning direction and not far enough in the punishment direction.  
  
“As well as a hand written personal letter of apology to every Master on the High Council and the Chancellor of the Republic for overstepping your bounds and for implying that you were a knight instead of a padawan,” Skrath finished dishing out his punishment and was pleased to see his padawan flinch, he had obviously hit the nail on the head when he assumed that Ori had let people assume he was of higher rank then he actually was, and the young man’s face go almost white. Perhaps it was a bit sadistic, but if he was going to have to explain this to the High Council then he was damned sure going to make sure his padawan got to experience the High Council's displeasure right alongside him. It would be a learning experience and Ori had been given into his care to learn after all.

* * *

Ori gritted his teeth and endured his leisurely stroll around this public park on Neimoidia. As much as he enjoyed being out of his ship and breathing clean air normally the fetid smog that was this planets air would have been enough to turn him off the idea. Not even the slight fanboyish squeal he had allowed himself in his head for walking on another world was enough to make up for this. Seriously, of all the worlds he could have visited for his second trip off Curuscant he had to visit the interstellar equivalent of Camden New Jersey, it was even more disappointing then his first off world trip which had been to the interstellar equivalent of Antarctica. It might have been better if he wasn’t wearing these damn uncomfortable rented formal clothes, but Ori doubted that. He knew intellectually why he had needed to go out and rent these abominations against comfort and fashion, but emotionally he was certain that this was yet another of his Master’s rather inventive punishments for over stepping his bounds. The only shop that rented off non Neimoidian formal wear on this fetid swamp of a planet was a wedding shop. That shop only had one outfit available and that was the cheapest one they had so here he was going to complete his first under cover assignment dressed up like a groomsman for the alien equivalent of a white trash wedding.

Of course he wouldn’t have been able to get this meeting without the intervention of Skrath, who had seemed to know exactly the right customs official to talk to. That the customs official had clearly seen through his droid cargos paperwork was an affront to his sensibilities, and something that he would have to work on in the future. Still it had gotten him a meeting with the head of procurement for Interstellar Accounting, the firm which handled all of their outside accounting needs and subcontracted the majority of the Trade Federations in house accounting as well. If he handled this meeting right then his droids, and more importantly their built in reporting sub routines, would be inside the Trade Federations firewalls allowing him access.

Going around the firewalls by means of a tap was a very smart play. He had initially just thought about selling the droids when they touched down and hoping for the best. Skrath had taken his bare bones plan and refined it, proving why he was considered to be one of the best in the business even if he didn’t have the highest rank around. He was also the man who had made Ori go in and hard wire the transmitters and sub routines into the droids rather than relying on programming them. It was a reasonable precaution to take but one that meant Ori had spent hours doing delicate repetitive work when he could have spent that time doing something more enjoyable. Re packaging the droids and ensuring that their manufacturing seals were still intact had been a pain in the ass, but it should be worth it.

Silently Ori vowed not to piss off Skrath again, his punishments were long and inventive. That was leaving aside the fact his Master had ensured that he came to the attention of Darth Sidious, or as he was known now Chancellor Palpatine, the one man who legitimately scared the piss out of him. Not only that, but Skrath had ensured that Ori was on the Chancellors shit list. Not the most comfortable position to be in, especially when it was the man who in the movies had single handedly brought down both the Republic as a whole and the Jedi Order for his own personal gain. Someone with that amount of talent and malevolence was not someone Ori wanted to be known by.

“Such a pity that one cannot see the stars from here,” a blandly dressed Neimoidian said with a rather clear and annoying smirk on his face. Ori repressed his grimace and nodded towards the alien while falling into lock step with him as he made his way around the park before giving the counter sign.

“The stars are best viewed from the black I would say, atmosphere always distorts them,” Ori stated giving the counter sign with just a touch of excitement colouring his voice. “Captain Mal at your service, may I know who I have the honour of addressing?”

“Vice president of purchasing for Interstellar Accounting Dak Haaka,” the Neimoidian replied blandly. Ori was glad to see that the Neimoidian appeared to have better self-control then he did. It would make his life easier if the Neimoidian thought that he could take advantage of a rookie captain. “I understand that you have a cargo of some interest to me?”

“Recently the Republics Internal Revenue Service made a slight error, it seems that when the latest law update came out for the R3’s these droids were in transit from the factory and were marked as defective and disposed of as excess to requirements.” Ori replied, allowing himself to glance around as if he was nervous about the possibility of being overheard. “I happened to get my hands on about a ship load of them, and I can tell you that they have the entirety of next year’s tax code loaded into their memory banks.”

“A fortunate find for you,” Dak replied, stopping in front of a particularly colourful bit of moss and breathing in the scent deeply. “I presume that the paper work is all in order and above board?”

“Of course it is,” Ori replied just a bit too quickly. “I brought them openly through customs, would I have been able to do that if it wasn’t?”

“One wonders…” Dak shot Ori a speculative look before continuing to stroll along the path. “I will admit that getting the tax code would be helpful, but you mentioned that the droids were listed as defective? That will impact the price, Captain.”

“Most of them are still in their factory crates, and to reassure any buy due to their providence I had an independent droid repair facility certify them as defect free before I left Curuscant. I have the attestation and certification available should you need to look at it,” Ori reached for the data pad he had stowed on his belt beneath the garish cape he was wearing.

“That will not be necessary at this time, although I will expect it to be produced and transferred when the droids are delivered should I decide that they are worth purchasing.” Dak interrupted him before he could get the data pad out and pass it over. “Just how much would you be asking for each unit?”

“Given that these droids are brand new, and have next generation software along with the data they contain… fifteen thousand per unit.”

“Captain, do you take me for a fool? A new R3 runs at barely eight thousand credits a unit. To pay almost twice the price for an advantage of less than a month would be foolishness of the highest order. I would offer seven thousand per unit.”

“Considering that Palpatine got all of your allies off the tax committee as part of the Naboo settlement what I’m offering has to be the advantage of at least three months. A lifetime in business terms,” Ori deliberately over played his hand there. He was well aware that the Tax code would be available to the Trade Federation and Interstellar Auditing in less than two months, but he didn’t want his knowledge to show. It wouldn’t do for a humble starship captain to have that much insight into the political process of the Republic.

“I will admit that the difficulties inherent in the Trade Federations disinvestment from Naboo have disrupted our normal information channels but they have not been that disrupted. Eight thousand… if they can be certified as having no more than a month of active service.”

“Nine thousand for every unit still in its original packaging, eight thousand for those that are not.” Ori replied, trying to close the deal quickly.

“That would be acceptable, I will have the contract delivered to your freighter before the day is out,” Dak started to walk away but paused before he had gotten out of earshot. “I presume delivery can follow soon after?”

“As soon as the contract is signed,” Ori fully confident that he could get the droid delivered tonight. “And payment will be…”

“After delivery and testing.”

  
Skrath enjoyed his caf and smirked at the Neimoidian sitting across from him. While the Jedi order did not normally operate this way there were times when it made sense to be invited into the front door rather then attempting to steal through the back door. He was an expert at this type of infiltration having spent years building up his legends, it allowed him to be invited into the building without anyone questioning him. The Neimoidian’s would not be inclined to throw away valuable assets like turbolasers, they would be crating them up and selling them. By posing as a buyer Skrath would be able to find out just how many ships were being disarmed, and what condition the weapons produced and used by the Trade Federation were in. Not to mention that he would be keeping heavy weapons off the open market, as he seriously doubted that the Trade Federation which should be desperate for money would be all that picky about who they sold their weapons to.  
  
“I find your offer enticing,” Braath Igrem replied folding his hands over his substantial belly. “Unfortunately I am not in any position to accommodate you. KDY would be a valuable customer from us.”  
  
“Is it a problem of compensation? Our offer is more than fair, and given your cash liquidity issues I would think that it would be a Force sent blessing,” Skrath asked with a raised eyebrow. Inside he was cursing, it seemed that someone had beaten him to the punch, which meant he would need to find another way to find out where those dismounted turbolasers were being sent.  
  
“No, what you offer is more than fair,” Braath sighed deeply. “Unfortunately those turbolasers are already spoken for. Within a month or two I can fill your order, but not at the moment. I am sorry Vice President Koorlo… much as I would be honoured to assist you, and KDY, it is not possible at the moment.”  
  
“Are you certain that you could fill my order in that time frame? The only reason I am out here is that we found ourselves with an unfortunate shortfall in our production, something that will be rectified shortly,” Skrath leaned forward a bit and gave Braath a piercing look. “I can justify the expense at the moment, perhaps with a consideration for yourself? But not in the future.”  
  
“It is good to see you understand the business culture of this world. So many from the multi stellar’s simply assume,” Braath replied with a deep belly laugh. “Unfortunately this sale was made at a higher level than mine…”  
  
“Ah, I understand, and thank you for your time and consideration,” Skrath rose, and offered Braath his hand. The Neimoidan took it and ushered him out of the office with all due ceremony.  
  
It was a short stroll towards the entrance of the office building, just enough time to decide on a course of action. He had been shown the attached shipyard, as part of the tour he had been given by Braath in an effort to impress him with the capacity and modernity of the shipyard, seeing with his own eyes one of the Trade Federation battleships demilitarization. Personally he had some doubts about the number of battleships being disarmed and returned to their roots as bulk frieghters. Politically disarming some of the ships was a smart move, but practically he doubted that the number of ships being disarmed matched the number that were being reported.  
  
That did not worry him, or the High Council, as it was predictable. What was happening to the weapons taken from those ships was another question. It had been expected that they would be sold off on the open market, but that was not happening which was throwing off everyone’s predictions. Especially with the Trade Federation already acting out of character in accepting the sanctions levied by the senate with only minimal protests. Skrath had never imagined that his offer to buy the dismounted weapons would be refused and that worried him. The loss of profit that they were willing to accept indicated that the Neimoidian’s had another agenda, one that was not known to the Republic or the Jedi Order.  
  
Rather than allowing the worry he was feeling to gnaw at his mind Skrath let the force guide him in seeking out answers. Given that the facility was mostly automated it was remarkably easy pretending to leave and then duck unseen around to the back of the office building and into the attached storage facility. All it took was Skrath swiping his visitors ID on the security pad that opened the door to exit the building then ducking under the camera’s field of vision and force jumping from camera blind spot to camera blind spot in order to get where he wanted to go.  
  
He had seen the shipyard already as part of the tour he had been given as a representative of KDY. That more than anything had convinced him that there was nothing nefarious happening in the yards. It was simply too easy to infiltrate as a mid-level official the way he had, so any competent counter intel operation would have forbidden any tours of the yard had there been anything happening there. So instead of re-treading ground he was well aware held no answers Skrath bounced over to the storage warehouse.  
  
It was a bit of a risk to try and break into the storage warehouse, and had Skrath not been a Force user he would never have contemplated it. After all the entire workforce of the warehouse was controlled by one droid brain. That meant if he was seen by anything, even a lowly cleaning bot, then the entire complex would know he was there and actively try to kill him while alerting the authorities. It was a test of his sensing and acrobatic skills to get into and through the warehouse without being seen. He knew that he didn’t have a lot of time so he confined himself to taking pictures of the packing labels present on a random sampling of the crates that were large enough to contain a capital turbolaser. He knew that most of the crates would not contain what he was looking for, but one or two of them might. Better to take a random sample and then sic Ori on the computer systems then trying to do the entire thing himself and getting caught.  
  
Skrath wanted to try and get a random sampling from the entire complex, but it was honestly too big to really attempt that. Instead he concentrated his efforts on the large cargo loading docks and the transfer point for parts exiting the shipyard. He felt that gave him the best opportunity to figure out where those weapons were going. Not to mention that those areas just felt right, and given his long experience Skrath knew better than to try and second guess the force. Even with the acrobatics it took him less than two hours to finish his self-appointed mission and vault the wall to safety. From there it was a quick, if not very pleasant, twenty minute trip back to the ship.

* * *

“So what do you think of your first investigation?” Skrath asked his padawan quietly. Letting the noise of the mid-range eatery he had brought his padawan to get the boys head out of the ships computer, and the Trade Federations networks. “Was it what you thought it would be like?”

“Mostly like I thought it would be,” Ori replied quickly, keeping his voice low enough that it wouldn’t carry. “I still don’t get why you felt the need to talk to all those people though, we got better information from my hacking, and in less time, then you got from talking. Not to mention the amount of credits you spent on bribes.”

“Let this be a lesson padawan, no computer tells you the whole story…”

“I’m well aware of that. I just thought that you would wait until I had processed my take, giving you a thread to follow. As it worked out you ended up just shooting in the dark, rather than focusing your efforts.”

“I wasn’t shooting in the dark. Most of those extraneous conversations actually added something to my understanding of the situation here on planet. Despite what it looked like they were all conversations that I needed to hear. Ori, you need to learn to trust the Force, otherwise you will miss the forest for the trees.” Skrath shook his head in exasperation. For a Jedi in training his padawan was remarkably resistant to using the Force. He seemed more inclined to develop leads the normal way then work on them with the Force. “Have you gone over the sensing exercises that I gave you?”

“Yes I have, although I can see their utility… I don’t like reaching for the Force as a first step rather than trying out traditional methods and then reaching for the Force if they don’t work out. Those conversations may have been relivent, but as of now they are extraniouse to our goal. Kriffing hell, the entire investigation has been turned on its head by one little fact I pulled out of their computers, so excuse me if I want to use a more measured initial investigation to determine where I need to focus on rather than this scatter gun approach that the Force leads to.”

“What am I going to do with you? Ori, the Force is our traditional method. We are Jedi, and as such we should be using the Force because we get sent when the ‘traditional’ methods as you call them fail.”

“Except we’re on a mission from the Council and not the Republic. The traditional methods haven’t been tried yet, so I don’t see the point of reaching for the big guns when regular tools haven’t had a chance to work. Besides the methods I use were the ones that found you your most interesting lead where they not?”

“Yes, and you thought that transfer came from the banking clans.” Skrath had to admit that in this instance Ori did have a point. Had he relied on the Force alone for his investigation he would have focused on the Turbolasers and completely missed the money, which would have been a disaster. That the Trade Federation was receiving money from the Republics highest elements was a better reason to hit the panic button then a couple hundred Turbolasers disappearing onto the black market. One was corruption as usual and the other was high politics, and Skrath was very aware which of the two was deadlier.

“Hey, I’m fifteen, cut me some slack here. It’s not like I know everything there is to know. I got what it was right didn’t I?”

“And a disturbing catch it was,” Skrath agreed darkly. He had not been pleased to discover that the Trade Federations entire fine had already been paid. Worse still was the fact that it had been paid before the details of what the republic was slapping the Trade Federation with had cleared the senatorial committee determining indemnities.

“Someone in the senate was bribed, what’s the big deal?” Ori asked with a slight cock to his head. “Corruption in the Republic is a fact of life, what’s got your robes in a twist about that? It was a multibillion credit fine, is it any surprise that someone with that kind of money would be able to find out about it first?”

“No its not, but where it came from is worrisome. How much do you know about the Corporate Sector?”

“Not a lot, it’s an independent sector that’s run by an oligarchy. The ruling board is made up of shareholders in the largest corporations who have bought in to the sectors pay as you go government.”

“Right, what you don’t know is just how connected those corps are to the Republic itself. Republican defence contractors have spin offs in that sector as a standard part of doing business, all of them, and it’s where they test new advances without the burden of Republican oversite and laws. This pay off came from the heart of the Republics largest R and D lab.” Skrath sighed lightly and continued to explain. “Whomever paid the fine off isn’t just connected to the Senate but also to the Army, Navy, and Judicial Branch. Considering what I’ve been hearing from the federation personnel on planet…”

“So any enemies have at least one direct line into our R and D establishment, if not higher on the food chain.” Ori paused for a second and took a sip of water. “I can see how that would be bad but it’s not an advantage that they don’t already have.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know why I was able to tap into their Hypercom system so easily? How the Trade Federation calls were all in the clear? That’s because the Federation is tight with the Techno Union and uses their encryption. The Union was the last organization to do a software upgrade on the hyper net, and their programmers have a bad habit of leaving back doors in everything they work on. They own it and you know that all orders are sent to Republic units through…”

“The hyper net. Sith spit.”

“It might not be so bad, the last upgrade was twenty years ago and the patching is starting to show.” Ori said with a slight grin. “The tender for the next upgrade is already being offered so we’ll have to see who gets the contract. We certainly can fix all of the known problems without letting it out that we are doing so, probably could catch quite a few hackers that way if you wanted to use the upgrade to set a trap. That or wrong foot more than a few of the mega corps. Of course all of this is contingent on the Jedi having pull with the Galactic Communications Regulation Commission.”

“No we don’t, but we do have pull with the Judicial Branch and can get tenders black listed in the security review.” Skrath rubbed his chin as he considered the suggestion that Ori had made. “I will probably pass along your suggestion to the Judicial Branch, they are always on the look out for a cheap publicity victory and from what you are saying there is one in the offing here if they play their cards right.”

“That always cracks me up, the largest slave organization in the galaxy is part of the Republics Judicial Branch… and in charge of enforcing the anti-slavery laws.”

“I still don’t understand just why you think we’re slaves. After all what slave organization would let us get the freighter we have, or refit it on their dime with their droids.”

“Oh you and me, we’re high status slaves… not like those poor pukes in the service corps… but I have to ask you a question, before you say you’re not a slave, have you ever been paid?”

“No, but that’s the price of being a Jedi. Our needs are met through the Temple, and because our needs are met by the temple in their entirety we don’t get personal credits. Besides possessions are a form of attachment and we as light side Force users should be wary of those.”

“How about no. The reason we don’t get personal credits is so that we’re trapped into being Jedi. Have you ever heard of someone successfully leaving the order?”

“Dooku.”

“Who is an old line aristo. The man’s family had enough resources that he didn’t need the Temple. Hell I bet if you look over interviews with fallen Jedi who left the order most of them fell as they tried to establish themselves.”

“You may have a point but that just warns us of the dangers of material possessions.”

“Or it’s a self-reinforcing loop. Jedi who leave the order to try and make something of themselves end up using the Force to make money. Which is a supremely bad idea, directly using the Force for personal gain has a documented history of increasing ones proclivity with the dark side. That causes them to fall because of their attempts to support themselves. The Council seeing this clamps down on the possessions rule again, and the Jedi who leave have less options therefor turn to using the Force. If they would just pay us a salary, and ensure our qualifications are recognized beyond the walls of the temple, I bet the numbers for fallen Jedi who left the order would at least be cut in half… if not down to a third.”

“Are you sure?”

“No, I don’t have the data to come to a reasonable conclusion so it’s just a theory I have. Because someone felt the need to report my penetration of the Temples intra net my access has been severely curtailed. I can’t get access to the sources I would need to construct a solid argument for or against my hypothesis.”

“You are far too negative. You think the worst of everything and everyone and so you see all their actions in the worst possible light.” Skrath spoke in a lightly scolding tone. “You need to learn to see the good in people, and organizations. You’re defensive attitude is why you have so much trouble with the higher ups in the temple, you keep taking precautions against perfectly innocuous acts and that gives others the impression that you’re half way out the door even when you’re trying to learn. I’ll admit you have some impressive skills, but they’re half as good as they should be given your potential.”

“What skills? I know the basics but that’s just about it… Force Concealment is the first advanced skill I’ve been taught and let me tell you that Master Nu was ferocious about not letting me spend any time with the great holocron.”

“That’s because your self-control sucks and she knew you would dive for any technique you wanted without regard to what was needed or healthy for you. When you’re in research mode you don’t care about anything but your research. She was worried about you getting sucked in and never leaving. The fact that I can tell that about you after knowing you for as short a time as I have should tell you something. It’s not like you would trust anyone to pull you out would you?”

“Point to you. Still I want to hear about these skills I supposedly have...”

“Ego check? Why not. You have taken the basic Telekinesis to a level not usually found until a Jedi reaches the rank of knight. Your Force leaps are seamless, and can be executed with no warning. In terms of push pull, you have taken it to the level that you can pick locks with it. You regularly imbue yourself in the Force, and can refresh yourself that way instead of sleeping not to mention what you do with that in a spar.” Skrath decided to cut his padawan down a bit, rather than keep going on about his strengths. “Your danger sense and Force sight do need some work, as they are not automatic as they should be for any initiate who graduates to padawan… because of that you will never be a grand master of the blade despite all the time you put into working on it.”

“I use my velocities as meditation aids. I would rather be moving then just sitting there. It works better for me.” Ori replied simply. “I rather thought that I was one of the better padawans with a blade though…”

“You are, but that’s a result of the time you spend on it. If you spent less time working with the blade you wouldn’t be as good as you are. Given you are an investigator, and how much time you are going to need to spend on your computer and out in the world, you aren’t going to be practising as much in the future. On top of that someone like Secura will always be better then you because she opens herself to the Force better, and she’s a natural with the blade which you aren’t.”

“Good to know… I have been working on opening myself to the Force Master,” Ori sounded slightly abashed as he admitted that. “I just don’t like what it does to me. I lose grounding for hours after I bring myself out of alignment with the Force and there’s this nagging feeling that it’s putting ideas into my head. My thoughts are always muddled after a session of immersing myself in the Force and I hate that feeling.”

“And you being as paranoid as you are don’t like anything messing with your head.”

“I wouldn’t mind if they were clearly from the Force and not from me, it’s the uncertainty that gets to me. I don’t like not knowing if an idea is mine or the Forces.”

“How is it that you have so much trouble with the most basic of Jedi skills but you can use the Force as well as you can?”

“When I’m directing the Force it itches less… so I spent a lot of the time I was supposed to be meditating and opening myself up to the Force working on my telekinesis or reinforcing my body with the Force.”

“And you didn’t mention this to your teachers?” Skrath felt like tearing his hair out. It sounded like Ori had been a shoe in as a sensory type Jedi when he was younger but his natural paranoia and inadequate instruction at the Temple had stunted his development. He still was rather skilled in using the Force to sense, but he didn’t seem to do it automatically as other Jedi with the skill did.

“Nope, they were already looking to relegate me to the Agricorp…”

“This is about you accusing your first instructor of being a Sith isn’t it?”

“Hey, what did you expect I heard a master telling his padawan that only the Sith deal in absolutes and not ten minutes later there’s this instructor telling me there is no, there is… the entire code is one big absolute.”

“No it’s not, the code is meant as a guideline. Not the be all and end all of our understanding of the Force.”

“Well then they should teach it as a guideline, not as an absolute. Besides I still think that adopting that code was a mistake.”

“A thousand years with the fewest instances of Dark side activity and he calls the revised code a mistake. Why oh living Force, must you inflict me with a padawan who thinks he knows everything?”

“Hey, I don’t think I know everything. I just think that it was a mistake to adopt a code from a Jedi who wrote that he had… difficulties teaching emotional control to his students because they weren’t telepathic or empathic.”

“Let me guess you spent months researching the code and its additions and interpretations as soon as you could.”

“Of course, ignorance is not commendable, about the only reason I have any respect for Odan-Urr… actually no I should amend that, I respect him but I think the people who decided that his reinterpretations of the code was the only one acceptable were criminally negligent.”

“Criminally negligent? That’s an interesting thing to say about a decision by the High Council.”

“Odan-Urr clearly wrote that his revisions on the code should not be the be all and end all of the code in the third volume of the Teachings of Master Odan-Urr. He was quite clear that the code he had written was meant as an introduction, a gateway if you will, to Jedi thought. In his own words while initial understanding was easier to reach through his revision; mastery could only be reached by studying and understanding the old code. He also wrote that his revision was meant to be useful to the widest possible audience.”

“You actually slogged through the Teachings of Master Odan-Urr? I was rather under the impression that Master Restelly Quist’s writings were what’s taught to initiates. Actually, unless you are studying the great hyperspace war Odan-Urr isn’t mentioned except as a supporting source. Not to mention that his writings are restricted to those who have passed their trials as knights, rather than everyone at the temple.” Skrath frowned in disapproval of yet another example of his Padawan using his infiltration of the temples computer system to get into areas of thought that were best left until one had achieved a proper mind set. Ori’s quest for knowledge would be commendable if he would just think about what he was learning rather than rushing off after discovering something to find the next factoid. If only he would stop to think about the implications of what he had found just a little bit it would make Skrath’s job so much easier. It was a weakness that his padawan would have to address before he was in any way ready for even a nomination to knighthood.

Skrath thought that his Padawan would have been much better served in his own development by following the teachings of the temple. After all most of his problems seemed to stem from him mistaking knowledge for wisdom. Although given his personality it wasn’t that surprising Ori seemed incapable of not looking for knowledge, even if he didn’t have the wisdom to handle it. That was a major issue that he would have to deal with as he went on to train his Padawan. After all it was a dangerous habit for any Force user to get into. Half understood concepts could easily lead a master down the wrong path and to the dark side, let alone a padawan.

“That’s because he was a nerd.”

“You call one of the greatest Jedi masters in history a nerd?”

“Yep, it’s what he was and he was well aware of that fact. It’s part of what makes reading anything he wrote that wasn’t edited for brevity a pain. He gets side tracked and you have twelve chapter digressions.” Ori shook his head and grinned. “The man was incredibly well learned but he needed an editor for his writing, and these days you need a stack of reference books to understand what he was saying. The modern restrictions on knowledge open his works to major misinterpretation because most who read it don’t have the correct references.”

“Why were you not snapped up by the Council of First Knowledge as a researcher?”

“Because they were worried about what I would get up to with access to Sith writing... and my writing is shit. I have enough trouble accepting orthodoxy as it is, how much worse would I be when I inevitably found something of value in the Sith writings stored in the archive?”

“Value from the Sith?”

“Master Plo Koon found a way to use a purely dark side technique while still being on the light side, I cannot think that reading through Sith thought would not open up new avenues of understanding the Force. Mind you most of those avenues would be a waste of time because they required the dark side, but some of the skills described in the writings can be translated for our use.”

“That’s an interesting position to take, do you think you could do it?” Skrath could feel his muscles tensing. He had known his padawan was intellectually adventurous but he hadn’t quite realized just how close to the edge he was willing to skate. That was something that he would need to keep a very close eye on.

“Only at a step or two removed, if that. Most likely as the initiator of the idea I should be nowhere near its execution since most of those who have done something similar have fallen. Just about the only person I can think of who did that successfully on a long term basis was Odan-Urr, and I’m not on his level.” Ori’s lekku twitched as he admitted that, and his face took on a slightly sour expression. “I probably could contribute once a master had gone through the writing and reduced the knowledge down to intent and effect, but not before then. Besides I would probably spend all of my time looking at their philosophical precepts and comparing them to the Jedi's.”

“Something you don’t know, how interesting. You really should have looked more deeply into the other sections of the Jedi before deciding that you didn’t want to be there,” Skrath’s tone was reproving. “We already do adapt and use Sith knowledge. Force alchemy is used by the Agricorp, especially biological alchemy, how else would the crops be as successful as they are?”

“Really? I was under the impression that anything Sith was bad, end of discussion.”

“That is the ignorance of youth speaking. Sith knowledge must be approached cautiously, members of the council of first knowledge have specifically trained Jedi to look over any recovered Sith artefacts. Actually allow me to revise my statement, any knowledge is dangerous when it is first uncovered, and Jedi who are trained to access the risks that such knowledge brings, and gain understanding of the knowledge, are used by the order as canaries. Once the knowledge is understood, and the risks associated with it assessed, only then is it passed on to the Master Jedi. They then decided if it is worth it to pass the knowledge to the knights or to put it away in the archives as it does not add to our understanding of the Force. It is from the knights that knowledge is disseminated and passes into common knowledge. We have a system in place, and it is a good system, one that as an initiate you did not have access to. You still don’t but now you know it exists.” Skrath grinned at the gob smacked expression on his padawans face. Some things were to be treasured, and destroying his padawans sense of superiority by telling him that the unique idea he had for doing everything better than the Temple and its thousand years of history was already in practise was one of them. “For instance the Code is still used as a gateway, its just these days the responsibility for unpacking and expanding on the code falls to a padawans master instead of being taught at the Temple. Enough of the digression, back to the mission and what you are supposed to be learning…”

* * *

Ori looked around the open marketplace on Nal Shaddaa and tried to open himself to the Force. Considering where he was it was rather difficult. He had wanted to head directly for the Corporate sector, but Skrath had a ‘few people to talk too’ first. Given that Skrath was the Master, and Ori was the Padawan, they went with Skrath’s plan and not Ori’s desires. After a rather long… discussion… with Skrath Kri, his Jedi master, he was undertaking a rather risky exercise. In his own mind at least. The simple fact was that Master Kri wasn’t happy with the way that Ori limited himself in the Force, so he had assigned his padawan to go out and do the will of the Force. A rather open ended assignment, and one that Ori had put off for as long as possible. The Force was too powerful for him to think of as safe, and he really disliked the way it seemed to twist his mind.  
  
If he hadn’t lived another life before this one he might not have thought deeply about it, but he had. As he had lived another life, his thoughts and mind were one of his most valuable possessions. Especially since parts of the life he was living had been a fictional universe in his last life, and he had confirmed that what he remembered was real. If something affected his mind then how much of himself would he lose? He had already lost his Original body and he had no intention of losing the last part of his original self, his mind. Even if he was slowly forgetting bits and pieces of his old life, much like he had forgotten parts of his childhood when he had become and adult. He had tried to hang onto his memories by writing everything down but it was a losing battle. Despite his virulent dislike of the concept this was an exercise he needed to complete.  
  
The reason he was in the marketplace had more to do with his desire for comfortable clothing then the will of the Force. He had spent the entire morning replacing his Temple issued wardrobe with more comfortable tailored clothing. Mostly t shirts and cargo pants, in styles he remembered from his past life, simple comfortable every day wear. Two pairs of leather pants, and some nicer shirts had also been called for. In the end his most expensive purchases had been his boots, because in Ori’s mind there was no good reason to have anything but the best for your footwear a less that had been hard learned in his last life, and a wonderful black leather duster. The duster had been his only really extravagant purchase, but it had called to him in a way he couldn’t resist. He had wanted one in his last life and never gotten around to buying one now had the means and time to procure one so he wasn’t about to let that chance slip past him again.  
  
Thinking about his purchases would not allow him to avoid what he had been putting off for long. Especially since Master Kri would know if he didn’t complete the exercise. The Force clung to you, even after you were under Force stealth, when you opened yourself to it. His master was certainly a good enough Jedi to detect if he had that remnant clinging to him or not, and should he not have it Ori was certain that Kri would just push him out of the ship with instructions to do it all over again. Or just not let him board. With a resigned sigh Ori checked his two hold out blasters again, hiked his sea bag further up on his shoulder with the bags from his purchases sticking out of the top, closed his eyes, and opened himself to the Force.  
  
It was a real struggle for him to do. Ori wasn’t a fan of doing so in the first place because the Force was just what the name implied a force, and letting it control him was against everything that his mind told him. Letting some giant, incomprehensible, alien entity control your actions was something that his last life had marked as a bad idea with giant neon signs. Unfortunately this life seemed to be based around the Force and as such he could either learn how to deal with it, or commit suicide. Not being suicidal he had tried to apply his own brand of rationalism to Force use, unfortunately for him his teachers felt that wasn’t the correct way to go about it, and so he was stuck with this exercise.  
  
Much as Ori complained about opening himself to the Force, the side effects of the Force flowing through you was a feeling that could not be described. It was intoxicating, the way your senses went through the roof. The sensation was another reason why he was leery of the Force, it seemed almost addicting to use. He had struggled enough in his last life to keep his addictions under control, he did not need to allow himself a new addiction in this life. Slowly Ori opened his eyes and allowed his feet to carry him as he drifted through the market. Mentally he cocked an eyebrow as he noted where he was going, the Force was pushing him towards the weapons dealers section of the market. That was a section of the market place he had not frequented before despite his desire to. After all a Jedi wasn’t supposed to use a blaster, even his holdout blasters would have been considered questionable at the temple.  
  
It didn’t take that long to reach his destination, one of the higher end weapons shops. Much to Ori’s surprise the Force directed him to drift to the back of the shop. A pair of lightsabres were on display back there, not that he could afford them, the asking price was around the cost of a small freighter. Silently he contemplated the weapons and wondered if he was supposed to buy them. His interest in the higher end weapons apparently garnered the attention of one of the beings manning the shop. An older Togruta came over and put his hand on Ori’s shoulder.  
  
“They look pretty Kid, but they aren’t worth the hassle or the cost. Unless you’re one of those Jedi types. Looking at you I can tell you’re not so don’t bother with the show pieces. Still, I can help you out for a bit if you’re looking for a higher end kit then the usual.”  
  
“Is it that obvious?” Ori asked mildly, surprised at the words tumbling out of his mouth.  
  
“Yeah it is, this is what your first stop after signing on?”  
  
“Second, it’s the first I’ve been paid at though…”  
  
“Take some advice, don’t bother saving those credits up. You made a good start with the cloths, especially getting the good stuff from Arron’s tailoring, but if you want to be taken seriously in your business then you have to look the part and a higher end piece of hardware would complete the image. What do you have in the arms locker on your ship?”  
  
“BC7’s.”  
  
“Not bad, not bad at all. A lot of people swear by them, then again I can get you something better. MerrWeapons makes some good gear for the money but BlasTec is about to blow them out of the water. I have a bit of pre-release kit… if you have the credits that is.” The salesbeing’s greed was beating down on Ori, but he felt that this was important for some reason. So instead of walking off like he would have normally he held up his roll of credits. The salesman took one look at it and smiled predatorily.  
  
“You made the right decision coming in here. Now this is going to be a bit expensive, all I have in stock are the promotional kits that BlasTec just released. That means you get a lot of weapons, more then you need really, and the total price is damned high but the price per piece is good.”  
  
“You keep talking about it, let’s see it.” Ori replied, letting himself slip slightly deeper into the Force.  
  
“Follow me,” The salesman lead him to the back of the shop, up a flight of stairs, and then out into a small secondary apartment attached to the building. He grabbed a case, a rather large one to Ori’s way of thinking, and then led Ori onto the range.  
  
“Is that it?”  
  
“Yup, DC-15 series pre-release promotional package.” The salesman answered as he undid the lock on the case and opened it. “Four DC-15s pistols, two DC-15S carbines, two DC-15A rifles, and a DC-15x Snipers rifle.”  
  
“That’s a lot of hardware… can’t I just buy one?”  
  
“Sorry kid, manufactures prerogative. They bundled all this stuff together and we can’t sell it piece by piece.” Ori could tell that the salesbeing was lying out of his ass but he decided to let it go. This seemed to be important to both his conscious and unconscious mind, and the Force seemed to be pushing him towards this. “You either buy the whole lot, or look at something else. Now I know that sounds bad, but you have to remember that this is unreleased stuff here, the Republics next generation of firearm. Give it three years and this is going to be the gold standard for the entire galaxy.”  
  
“Really, now that’s interesting,” Ori ran his hands over the pistols and pulled one from its packing. “Do you have a clip I can shoot off? It’s not that I don’t trust you but I want to test what I buy. Especially since you said this was pre-release, you know how manufacturers are about their new projects, there are always bugs.”  
  
“Kid you aren’t half dumb, give me a minute.” With that the salesbeing disappeared into the back of the range and came back with a couple of blaster packs. Clearly they were meant for all of the weapons. Before handing the power packs over he locked Ori into the blaster proof range, and then slid them through using a secure exchange. Ori nodded his head and began to load the pistol while the salesman got the range set up.  
  
Actually shooting the DC series was a blast. They worked much better than anything he had ever gotten a chance to shoot before. Especially the rifles, compared to what he had learned on this was an almost religious experience. These guns were meant to be fired and it showed in the way they were engineered. Of course they weren’t perfect, especially the stock design for the rifle, but they were good enough and felt natural in his hands. Ori found himself wanting the guns and not caring just how badly he was about to be skinned. If the Force had led him here, then it couldn’t be all bad. Besides he now had justification for carrying weapons other than his sabres, after all hadn’t the Force led him to these guns?  
  
“I’ll take them,” Ori said with enthusiasm. He had to unload the pistols and slide the power packs back through the secure exchange before he was allowed out, but that was a minor inconvenience. He kept talking even as he unconsciously demonstrated a clear level of competence with the guns. “Do you have quick draw holsters for the pistols? If possible I would like to wear them out of the shop.”  
  
“Sure Kid,” The salesbeing shook his head and lead Ori back into the shop proper, making sure to drop the case off at the register along with two thirds of Ori’s credits. “Say, you handled those guns a lot better than I thought you would. Why weren’t you strapped when you came in here?”  
  
“Who says I wasn’t?” Ori grinned and popped one of his hold outs from his sleeve before making it disappear again. “The visible pistols I normally use belong to the ship though, all I had as personal weapons are my hold outs and wearing one of them as a waist gun would be a stupid thing to do. Unfortunately I’m on the captains shit list at the moment and he wasn’t about to let me use one from the armoury. He knew I would get back to the ship fine, but he wasn’t going to make my life easier.”  
  
“Hungh,” Ori could tell that by now the salesbeing was convinced that he was a Hutt backed pirate, not that he would go out of his way to convince the Togruta otherwise. It was always best to let people think you were more used to violence then you really were, it cut down on the number of times you actually needed to use it.  
  
By the time Ori left the weapons shop, two of his new blasters strapped to his thighs, and carrying the case with the rest. They had allowed him to load once he had paid and his money had vanished into the secure deposit slot. He was more than satisfied with the way his day had gone. Even if master Kri objected to his gun purchases he could still get them written off as necessary expenses. After all the Serenity’s arms locker was relatively anaemic. Still something was bothering him about the guns. Then he remembered, it was from his last life, apparently the clone troopers had used DC model blasters. Since the clone wars weren’t supposed to start for another ten years it seemed to him that someone along the way had made a mistake and the clones were closer to being discovered then they had ever been in the movies.

* * *

Skrath Kri entered the small eating area in the Serenity and frowned slightly at what he saw. He believed that his Padawan had been led to the guns he had bought yesterday by the will of the Force, it was impossible not to when he felt his padawan returning positively dripping with Force residue from his exercise, and yet he still didn’t like that Ori had bought blasters. Blasters were effective, and useful, but they were tools to use and discard at will. They were not like Lightsabres, a symbol and tool all wrapped into one convenient package, which would stay with a Jedi for life. At least in theory, in reality very few Jedi managed to hold on to their Lightsabres for more than a decade. Only one recent schism of the order had considered blasters a worthy option, and here his padawan came back with them.

In many ways the problems that his Padawan had with the Order were represented by those blasters. While clearly talented with the Force Ori had issues, both of his own making and from the Force itself. Most of his issues though could be traced back to Jedi politics, a high impact sport if there was one. In some ways Skrath regretted pushing his padawan to open himself to the Force, it was clear now that Ori's intransigents and unhappiness with the Order wasn’t just his own contrary personality. The Force seemed to be pushing his Padawan on a path to either reform the Order or to leave it. That was a worrying observation but one that could be put off for future consideration. His Padawans worrying fear of the Force was something that would need to be dealt with immediately. Fear was a clear path to the darkside, and one could not be a Force user without interacting with the Force, so Ori needed to be forced to accept the force or at least reach a comfortable accommodation with it before his fear led him to ruin.

Skrath didn’t think that his padawan was anywhere near ready to take such a step on his own. His own discussions on the Force with the young man had made it clear that while Ori was very knowledgeable he was not very wise. He knew a lot of factual information but his interpretation of it were often coloured by the Twi’lek’s youth and inexperience. Still perhaps once he had matured some the young man would be more than just an investigator. Though Skrath doubted that would happen, given the distrust that his padawan had built up in the older generation through his intemperate words and actions. It would take a long time before he was taken as anything more than a wild eyed radical. A view which would not be helped by Ori’s fear of the Force, unless that was broken by the time they returned to the Temple. Skrath quietly resolved to extend the mission they were on if he could, it wouldn’t do to cut Ori’s career off just when he had begun it, especially since he was showing so much potential.

Pouring himself a cup of Caf Skrath eased himself into a chair across from his padawan and began to plan out his day. Ruefully he kept an eye on Ori as he took apart and put back together each of the blasters, clearly familiarizing himself with the weapons. It was something he had done as well, any competent gunman would do the same, but it was symptomatic of the way that Ori went about doing things. Ori’s movements were firmly controlled, and they had the look of long practice to them, making the republic commando, who had trained him in gun handling, influence clearly visible. Most Jedi who were forced to use a blaster would only begin to familiarize themselves with the weapon they would use immediately before the operation that required one, if they didn’t trust the Force to guide them without bothering to properly prepare. They would not take the time to get used to the weapon until they were sure they would need it rather then being used to the blaster in case they did need it.

“Have you figured out just why the Force led you to those?” Skrath asked casually after taking a sip of caf.

“No… but I think the name is a clue,” Ori said not bothering to look up from what he was doing. “The DC-15 series of blasters is a rather famous designation in military circles, the last time they were in production was during the Sith wars and the cold war. Someone reached deep into history to pull the name out.”

“Interesting, have you made any progress figuring out why the dealer thought that they would be the standard weapon for the republics army when we don’t have an army?”

“I think…No, he wasn’t just trying to fleece a green horn. He was but not about that.” Ori looked up for the first time with a grimace. “I think we’re going to find that there is a lot of new military hardware being designed and put into limited production in the next couple of years. This is a warning, all is not well and we are not the only ones preparing for the coming storm.”

“You could very well be right,” Skrath rubbed his temple as he admitted that. “I talked with the Council last night and had the Temple run down the account you found had paid off the Trade federation’s fines. It was a republic contingency account, for use in case of war.”

“Why is someone using that account to bail out the Trade Federation though?” Ori asked, clearly confused.

“I have an idea but until we find out more I’m unsure if it is correct or not.” Skrath said evenly. “Personally I think that the Naboo crisis has woken up elements in the Republic to just how weak a position we are in. The Judicial Forces have a lot of ships but the Stark Hyperspace war and then the Naboo crisis has pointed out that those ships are both outdated and severely underpowered compared to the ships in the hands of private corporations and regional conglomerations.”

“In other words the Ruusan reforms are beginning to show their age and we need to start thinking about a new round of reforms.” Ori’s eyes narrowed. “After all a Trade Federation battleship isn’t something that the Judicial Forces could stop on their own without calling in regional forces and you know how limited their hyper drives are.”

“Well we won’t have to worry about the Federation in a few years, after all they are being forcibly disarmed.”

“Yeah right… Master, you have to remember what the Lukrehulk frame started out as, it’s a freighter frame. I’ll bet you anything that every one of those disarmed Lukrehulks can be rearmed in less then a month. It’s a cosmetic thing to say that the Trade Federation is disarming, especially since the politicians are letting them do it in stages. Gives them more time to carefully dismount the guns and store them away for future use.”

“And buys the Republic time to develop a counter,” Skrath said evenly. “Buying time while we try and find the resources to match the threats that weren’t obvious before this series of crisis.”

“That would be a smart plan…” Ori spoke in a distracted voice. It was quite clear that he was thinking hard about what his master had said, trying to pick apart the idea and find flaws in the reasoning. “I know you aren’t speculating baselessly, you have to have seen something I didn’t, so where to next master?”

“The Corporate Sector,” Skrath took a gulp of his caf before continuing. “We have a cargo but we are going as actual Jedi so be prepared to use your robes rather then your under cover cloths.”

“What’s wrong with my cloths? They’re comfortable after all,” Ori looked up his face a mass of confusion.

“Yes, but they are not appropriate to represent he Jedi order in, especially as we are going to be official auditors on this one.” Skrath replied with a roll of his eyes. “While I do recognize that for every day wear what you bought is both practical and comfortable, especially as we seem to be spending a fair amount of time as free traders, there are times when you are going to need to wear your robes… you did bring them right?”

“Ummmmm… about that… see you told me we were going under cover and I figured that…” Ori trailed off looking sheepish and muttering for a bit before he almost whispered out the last bit. “So I spaced them after lighting them on fire.”

“Padawan… what am I going to do with you.” Skrath shook his head in exasperation. “Don’t worry I brought extras.”

“Sithspit.” Ori responded with a dejected slump of his shoulders. “If we have to wear the damn things couldn’t they at least not itch.”

“The scratching or itching is there to remind us to be humble, and contrary to popular rumour has nothing to do with the fact that we buy them in job lots from the lowest bidder.” Skrath said pompously, using a joke to break the tension that had built up. “Onwards, as you completed my assignment I have another one for you. As I believe I have begun to teach you the order is not homogeneous. Each branch is its own self contained order with a different focus, and different methods.”

“Yes, you have mention that one or two…hundred times,” Ori’s voice was filled with humour.

“Right, most padawans don’t need that thought bashed through their heads. We are members of the sentinel branch of the Jedi, as such we use the tools of all the other branches freely and without prejudice alongside our more mundane skills. As I have noted you are strong on combat related skills but you are weaker in those skills prized by the consular branch.” Skrath said evenly, watching his padawan closely. He wasn’t surprised to see Ori nod his head in agreement. Say what you would about the young man he was self aware enough to know of his flaws even if he did flounder a bit in his attempts to correct them.

“Very well, what I want you to do is a consular refinement on opening yourself to the Force. You are going to handle customs on your own and you need to do it without giving a bribe, using your authority as a Jedi, or being delayed…”

“How in the name of the Force am I supposed to do that?” Ori asked wide eyed. “Unless you want me to go for a mind trick that is.”

“Nope, this needs to be done covertly.” Skrath grinned as he said that. He was going to enjoy watching his padawan struggle with this gem of an exercise. :”You are going to open yourself to the Force and feel the correct words to use in order to get through customs. It’s the same thing that an ambassador or diplomat would do in a tight situation.”

“Really? I rather thought that those two professions spent a large amount of time preparing for their assignments rather then using the Force to skate their way through…”

“It is not always effective, especially in diplomatic relations where the driving force is not individuals but governing bodies. Still it is a technique all Sentinels learn by heart, we need it in order to get the truth out of our targets and to get information. We do not have a galaxy spanning network of informants, instead we study the situation and then use this ability in its more refined form to get the right people to talk to us.” Skrath spoke evenly letting a bit of humour leach into his voice. “Not everyone can do it but from what you told me about your conversation with the salesman last night I think that you have the potential to be one of the better users of this ability. You not get him talking about the blasters and thereby alerting the Order to the fact that he thought that elements in the republic were thinking about rearming?”

“I did…” Ori shook his head and began to put the blasters away, minus the two he holstered on his person. “I think that I am going to need to spend a lot of time meditating on this in order to even have a chance at succeeding.”

“That you will my padawan… which is why I will be flying this next leg of our journey not you.” Skrath’s smirk at his padawans look of disappointment was a sight to behold. “And I do expect you to meditate in the correct way, not while running through your velocities or while working on your telekinesis.”


	3. 3

  
“I still say that taking a holo of my discussion with Agent Zephire was excessive master,” Ori grumped adjusting his robes yet again in a vain hope that they would become comfortable if he could just find the right way to wear them. He wished, once again, to return to his every day clothes. They were at least comfortable. “It wasn’t that funny!”  


“Oh yes it was padawan mine,” Skrath let slip a slight giggle as he said that. “You have to take a step back and think of the image, gigantic human in full ESPO uniform looming over a slip of a Twi’lek dressed like a pirate, shouting at each other at the top of their lungs about the proper way to bake Lum bread. It’s an image that sticks in the mind, if only for the incongruity.”

“Humph, it got the job done didn’t it? We didn’t have a single problem with customs.” Ori snarled. “Unlike the issues you had getting an appointment with the account manager.”

“Keep saying things like that and I will be sure to post that holo on the net, or perhaps it should just go on the Temples intranet?”

“Anything but that master!” Ori paled at the threat, his teal skin making it look impressive.

“Oh, I will relent… for now,” Skrath said as the two Jedi entered the bank. “I am not surprised by the difficulties inherent in getting an appointment. After all this account is held by the Bothan commercial bank and the Bothan’s are well known for their… caution… when it comes to dealing with the Jedi. It’s a species thing.”

“I rather thought that idea was a stereotype, not a truth.” Ori frowned as he spoke. “Like the way that all Twi’leks are criminals and other bullshit in that vein.”

“It is a stereotype, but there are grains of truth in every stereotype. Unfortunately the way the galaxy works most beings are pigeonholed by stereotypes and they end up playing to the type.” Skrath shrugged at that. “You see it everywhere even in the Order.”

“Really? I was under the impression that the Order was remarkably free from overt bias.” Ori answered surprising his master with his leniency towards the Order. It seemed that one on one teaching was doing the padawan well. He hadn’t lost his wariness about the Order, but seemed more inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt rather than leaping to the worst possible conclusion.

“We do not operate in a vacuum and the biases of the galaxy do inform some of our choices,” Skrath said sourly. He wasn’t too pleased with some of the compromises that living in an imperfect world had forced on the High Council. “Jedi need to be seen as trustworthy, especially the Consular Jedi. Sentinels and Guardians have a bit more freedom, but I have to admit at least in the Diplomatic and Ambassadorial roles race does play a part in who is selected.”

“Is that the reason for the excessive Twi’lek casualties?” Ori asked casually.

“Unfortunately yes. Twi’lek Padawans and Knights have gone into the investigative, peacekeeper, combat, and other exposed roles almost exclusively. Especially in the investigative role under cover assignments have taken a steep toll on those assigned to them. I know of one slavery case where we lost over twenty Jedi, almost all of them either Togratu or Twi’lek.” Skrath fought down his anger as he remembered that case. It had started out as a simple investigation into a minor slaving ring in the mid rim and then exploded up into a major case that had ended with the arrest of twenty seven senators. He had only been called in at the end of the investigation but he had been friends with more than a few of the fallen Jedi. He had taken great pleasure in being in on the arrests.

“So species does play a part in the selection of Padawans.”

“A bit, still you have a few who break the mould. Personally I think that we, the Order as an organization, are making a mistake in bowing to public perceptions as we have in our assignments. The counter argument which holds some truth is this policy has helped build up the reputation of the Order as a whole and that reputation saves lives.”

“So we trade the lives of Jedi for others, not surprising given the Orders focus on duty.”

“You think we are making a mistake?”

“I am… conflicted.” Ori looked monumentally uncomfortable as he admitted that. “I understand the logic but I think that our inaction may have perpetuated the situation. By pandering to public perception instead of using our image to effect change we continue to take casualties where there is no need. Then again I am not a sociologist and I cannot see a clear answer to the question. Speaking of questions is that master Dza’Lya?”

“Ah Master Dza’lya, I am Knight Kri, here on request of the council and the senate,” Skrath shifted into his most complimentary tones as he spoke to the account manager.

“Is that so Jedi,” Dza’lya growled out, his ruff rippling in irritation. “I was under the impression that the Republic no longer trusted the banking practises of the Bothan’s to protect their credits. Especially given the amount of time Count Dooku needed with the Banking Guilds to clear up everything before he returned to being a private citizen.”

“Ah, that would be a miss communication on his end I’m afraid,” Skrath let an apologetic tone seep into his words. Out of the corner of his eye he noted that Ori had adopted and maintained an attentive, if slightly confused expression. “The issue we have was not with the bank itself rather with the end user. As for the good Count, his public and private personas necessitated that he not use the same banking system in both his roles. If he had the accusations of corruption would have been thrown around quite liberally. I’m sure you are well aware of the issues with information security and general corruption in the senate?”

“Ah,” Dza’lya’s ruff smoothed out as if by magic. Ori took a deep breath and immersed himself in the Force, trying to sense exactly what his master was doing. The turn around on Dza’lya’s part was a bit to dramatic, or was it? Had the Bothan been faking his irritation? While his master bantered with the bothan and the bothan led them into a conference room he examined the two older men through the Force and silently berated himself at what he felt.

Ori knew that his habit of minimizing his Force use was odd, but he had never before found a reason to not do so. This meeting was an eye opening experience for him, what was being said and felt were often diametrically opposite one another. If one took Master Dza’lya’s words at face value, which Ori would have done without using the Force to feel out the correct path, this meeting would have been a disaster. The only way that Master Kri was succeeding in both calming the Bothan and getting what he wanted was by walking a very fine verbal line, and being guided by the Force. Something which had been made infinitely harder by Count Dooku’s inadvertent offending of the Bothan banker. Ori actually thought that Dooku had been deliberate in his offense, but that was a suspicion nursed by the memories of his past life, not one he could justify based on the information he had in this life.

“…Chancellor Palpatine is working on the corruption issue from his end but there is a deep culture of corruption in the senate and it has been growing for a long time.” Skrath paused for breath as Ori came back to himself and focused on back on what was being said. “There have been a long string of ineffective or outright corrupt chancellors and it shows. We Jedi have been fighting the corruption but you know how difficult it is for us to gain permissible evidence.”

“I am well aware of your Orders tendency to not think about the consequences of their actions. It is good to hear that you are working with professionals this time, rather than yet again going at it on your own,” Dza’lya didn’t bother to hide the contempt in his tone as he said that. Bothans were not the most accepting species of the Jedi, their culture clashed horribly with the values espoused by the Jedi.

“It hasn’t always been our fault, the judicial branch does answer to the chancellor and we are supposed to be an independent check on them. Unfortunately those Jedi with a real talent for investigation are few and far between.” Skrath shrugged ignoring the dig about Jedi’s being cowboys. “Most Jedi are much more suited to talking things out as diplomats or kicking down doors. Still the chancellor knew that this data could be transported by us safely after I do an initial evaluation of the account activity, I am one of the better Jedi investigators.”

“Oh, I have not heard your name before,” Dza’lya voiced his scepticism.

“Weren’t you just talking about how badly most Jedi are at investigation? Of course you haven’t heard my name, I do the investigation and hand it over to the judicial branch as I am supposed to.” Skrath frowned ferociously as he continued. “I am not a grandstander like that thundering bantha Dooku. His version of investigation was a disaster for those of us who are real professionals.”

“I heard about that,” Dza’lya laughed heartily. “Nearly starting a war between the Hutt’s and the Republic? Idiocy. I was surprised that he was elevated to the Council, but not surprised when he left in a huff like a youngling.”

“The man didn’t have the patients for effecting the type of systemic changes he wanted. He was always in a rush, impatient, I don’t think that anyone who knew him beyond his reputation was surprised by his resignation. I am surprised that the news of his resignation had made it all the way out here though.” Skrath cocked his head to the side as he said that.

“He may have resigned from the Order but while he was still a member of the High Council he set up several financial transactions for the Order as a whole. He came by a couple of weeks ago to ensure that they could be carried out on automatic should no one in the Council pick up his projects, after he had lost his signing authority.” Skrath nodded at that and smiled, which became strained as the bothan continued as if he didn’t have a care in the world. “Of course the work he was doing with the Banking Guild was also in the multi trillion credit range, and say what you will about his personality he would not be so foolish to leave that without guidance. Do you knew who is handling that account now?”

“That is something you should bring up with the auditor when they get here. I am limited in the scope of my brief to what I was read in on, so I have no knowledge of his projects with the Banking Guilds. That said, everything here looks good. You have the appropriate authorizations, I would like a copy of the invoices so we can check on the projects at the source as well as following up to make sure that no one on Coruscant is milking these accounts for their own gain.”

“You do not want a balance of the accounts, or an audit?” Dza’lya’s eyebrows rose at that.

“No point, at least until the chancellor gets a firmer handle on the finances of the Republic. Besides I only have authorization to investigate projects that are being currently funded rather then past projects.” Skrath shrugged as he spoke. “As I said you will see an auditor soon, if only to check over the historical data from the accounts, but the chancellor is more concerned with getting current corruption under control at the moment. That is not to say he isn’t interested in historical corruption but he has communicated to us that he wants to get his house in order before he attempts to prosecute past corruption.”

“Sensible for a politician. I rather liked some of his speeches but I was worried that he would dive headfirst into investigations of the past instead of concentrating on the now.”

* * *

Skrath felt like taking his Padawan by the neck and shaking him, after getting the data they had needed out of Master Dza’lya Ori had disappeared into the wonderful world of forensic accounting. Fortunately for Skrath he could tell that Ori was making full use of the force as he did his work, unlike his normal habit of trying the traditional way first and then moving on to a half-hearted force driven effort which would confirm his already formed suspicions. Ori was a good kid, and he would make a fine law officer someday, but getting him into the mindset of a Jedi investigator was a task and a half. But first he needed to break his Padawan out of his converts zeal on using the force, and find out just what he had found, not to mention teasing him about it, for his own good of course.

“Padawan mine, what do you have for me?” Skrath asked barging into Ori’s commandeered cabin as if he belonged there. He took a moment to look over his padawan and valiantly refrained from shaking his head. Ori looked like something the Sith had dredged up from Korriban, unwashed and oily, with a distinctly less then pleasing aroma.

“Four leads master,” Ori replied without looking up from his screen still typing away frantically. “Two star fighter design sites, one ground vehicle construction and testing site, and what looks suspiciously like a very large order placed with Kaut for what I’m guessing based on the numbers here look like capital ships.”

“Recommendations?” Skrath cocked his head to the side as he thought about what Ori was telling him. It did seem that the republic was gearing up for war after all, they were just being a bit discrete in their execution. He could think of a number of reasons why that was a good idea, after all letting the senate into large piles of money was like setting up a feast in front of a Hutt and expecting to come back to it without all of the food having been eaten. There were good senators, he was well aware of that, but the bad apples more then spoiled that barrel. Covert funding for the military? Well that was just asking for the rancor to take a bite out of you, especially since this had obviously not been audited since Dooku’s resignation from the order. Possibly some time before then if he knew Dooku, that man just couldn’t seem to handle the small details well, for all that he could think the big ideas.

“Start from the bottom up,” Ori leaned back in his chair and finally tore his eyes away from the screen. “Ground vehicles first, we have a good approximation of what they will need and it will give us a baseline to see just how badly the contractors have abused the leash they have been given.”

“Go on,” Skrath approved of this idea. Start from the easiest first and then move inward to crack the case. That was good practice.

“Star fighters, or what might be a bomber development cycle second,” Ori continued worrying his lip. “There is a larger potential for graft there, and while I am technically inclined working with fighters was never my forte. Do you know a few non force sensitive fighter pilots? It might be a good idea to include them in any auditing we do.”

“Your reasoning if you would?” Skrath could feel his eyebrows rise at that suggestion. It wasn’t a typical tact he would have expected his padawan to go with. In fact, he couldn’t think of a single Jedi who would have gone there. They were all accomplished fliers in their own right, and tended to be better then average when put behind the controls of any new spacecraft.

“While we could serve as test pilots, and I have no doubt be rather good at it, it wouldn’t tell us much about the craft in their base configuration. I don’t know about you but one of the first things I learned while being instructed in piloting at the temple was to disable the majority of the reaction control safeties. We Jedi have too good a set of reflexes for the computers to handle…” Ori shook his head in remembrance. “It caused me quite a few issues when I went for my pilots license. The tester was horrified when I pulled that, and then refused to allow me to test due to it the first time I went for my practices.”

“That… is a good point,” Skrath frowned as he thought about the issue. He couldn’t dispute that Ori was right, Jedi were just too good as pilots to really evaluate any craft they flew for general service. Absentmindedly he reached up to scratch his beard as he tried to think of any pilots who he knew and could call upon while trusting their discretion. “I will have to think on the issue. You believe that it will present us with a false positive if we fly on our own?”

“Yes Master, I firmly believe that we could fly anything. They could be producing the most Sith inspired disaster of a fighter ever and we would miss the obvious because we could fly it. Bombers I have less worry about but fighters?” Ori shook his head. “They are inherently unstable platforms with an eye towards maximizing manoeuvrability. The flaws that would doom them in general service would be assets in our hands.”

“A cogent argument,” Skrath worked his lip as he paused before continuing. Ori was pointing out something that he should have been aware of, especially with how often he worked with law enforcement. The limitations of the non-jedi was a point his own master had hammered into his head again and again until it had stuck. That he was forgetting, or overlooking it now was alarming. Skrath should have been the one to point out that issue to his padawan, not the other way around. Something was clearly wrong here. He would have to meditate on this, there was clearly something about this project which was affecting him mentally. “Continue if you would?”

“Capital ships last, I don’t know about you master but my own knowledge there is sketchy. I have ideas of what would make a good capital ship but the practical experience to judge a design? That I do not have…” Ori frowned as he admitted that. “It annoys me that I do not have the expertise needed to find this information, but the galaxy has been at peace for the better part of a thousand years.”

“Not exactly peace,” Skrath replied solemnly as he surveyed just what his padawan had brought him. It was a wealth of information he could use, very relevant to their current attempts to decipher the puzzle laid out before them, but it was not complete and he did not have the knowledge needed to decipher it. “The galaxy has been relatively at peace, there are still conflicts which rage even to this day. They are small though, and they are not resolved through the use of capital ships. Star fighters and smaller vessels are the preferred means of projecting force at this point in time. When a capital ship is deployed, such as what happened at Naboo, then someone has screwed up massively.”

“I guess…” Ori trailed off before finishing his thought.

“Oh, you disagree?”

“Not with the substance of what you said, from my reading I know it to be true. The question in my mind is if it should be true? How many of the little brush fires which we have to deal with could have been prevented by the Judiciary force moving a capital ship into orbit and telling both sides to knock it off?” Ori asked frowning as he said that. “And what would be needed for such a vessel?”

“More then a few of the incidents I’ve heard of,” Skrath replied with a dark tone. He was well aware of the way that the judiciary seemed to be drawing back from their duty’s and leaving more of the large problems to the Jedi. The Stark Hyperspace war had been an attempt to correct that trend, but the failure of the ORSF had put paid to that. Frankly Skrath was of the opinion that while the lighter ships of the judiciary were good for normal work, they lacked the firepower they needed to solve the larger problems. It was impossible to get two systems to back down from shooting at each other if the largest ship you could put on the field was a consular class cruiser. Admittedly the Judiciary was really good at taking down smugglers and containing most pirates, but their focus on small craft had resulted in a very wide breath of reach with almost no depth.

“As for what capital ship the Judicial forces need…” Skrath didn’t allow his moment of introspection interrupt the flow of his words. “Something with the power of a Dreadnought class heavy cruiser without the crew requirements and with a heavy ground presence. With a Battalion or two of peacekeepers on board you can bet trouble will be less likely to occur during negotiations. That would allow normal diplomats more time to resolve issues before they called in the Councillor’s. That said it would need to be smaller than most cruiser weight vessels. The Judicial forces are just as bound to the Ruusan reformation as we are, and they cannot afford to be perceived as becoming the republics military. It is an article of faith in the senate that should a larger conflict arise the republic as a whole would call on its component parts to put down such a conflict rather then having the forces to do it one its own. A safeguard if you will against the Republic getting too much power over its member states. There is a reason why the Chancellor lost a lot of his power along with the Jedi after the New Sith Wars were completed.”

“True enough. I do question just how closely we hew to the reformation though, the Galaxy has changed in the last thousand years,” Ori grinned as he replied and started to scratch his face with his claws before changing the subject. “It would be nice to reduce the number of councillor’s in service and up the number of guardians and investigators.”

“That padawan mine, will not be happening,” Skrath snorted as he imagined trying to convince the council of the change. The slow rise in the number of councillor jedi as opposed to the other branches was centuries in the making. It wouldn’t be reversed by just a little change in the judicial forces posture. Especially since they tended to be the ones who survived their knighthoods and were granted padawans in the greatest numbers. “Still you should rest, and perhaps get a shower, you are starting to smell a bit rank after all…”

“Master!” Ori said looking mortified.

“After that I will be working with you on your meditation, but rest first.”

* * *

  
Ori awoke slowly, his head felt like he had wrapped it in cotton and then slammed it into the walls of the Serenity multiple times. He grimaced and centered himself, trying to figure out just why he felt so off. Not being a naturally light sleeper, it took a minute for him to clear his mind and then he rolled over to look at the crono mounted on the wall. That caused him to grimace. According to it he had been out for the better part of three days, although he knew he hadn’t been sleeping that whole time. With a sigh he levered himself up and went to the fresher to get a shower. It seemed that he had taken one just before he crashed but from the way he felt he knew he had been asleep long enough to build up a film of filth, something he abhorred.

By the time he got out of the Fresher he felt like a Twi’lek again, a thinking being rather than a mess of jumbled contradictory impulses. Looking over his bunk in distaste he stripped the sheets and replaced them, shoving the old ones into his laundry bag before taking it to the ship’s laundry. That took another couple of minutes but by the time it was complete he felt almost ready to face the day. Considering it was still very early morning according to the ships clock he simply started the laundry cycle and then made his way to the kitchen for some Caf. Without Caf he never was truly ready to face the day. Others in the order might criticizes him for his habit, but it was a holdover from his last life and he wasn’t inclined to give up more of who he had been to please them. Especially since he was hardly the only Jedi to have a morning ritual to center himself. Most did, even if they refused to acknowledge just what they were.

Taking his first cup, and setting the carafe within easy reach, he savoured the bitter taste of the Caf with closed eyes. It wasn’t quite coffee but it was close enough for government work. Certainly, better than some of the dreck that was served in fast food restaurants in his last life. Pouring himself another cup he pulled his data pad to him with the Force, and was surprised by how easily that action came to him. He usually got up and walked to his pad, especially in the morning, so this disruption in his routine made him suspicious. The Force was clearly at work here and he did not like it.

Opening the pad and looking over his notes Ori could feel his jaw dropping. They made no sense! The words, taken as individual unit’s, were clear enough but when they were combined into sentences, he didn’t comprehend just what they meant. It was clear he had been looking at something to do with accounting, the mentions of accounts, escrow, and payments received he could decipher easily enough, but he lacked the training to read through this dense, technical jargon filled, set of notes and put it into basic so that a lay person could understand it. He had clearly written it, his distinct spelling errors and the constant presence of homonyms were a glaring tip off to that, but he didn’t understand it. Something that put him edge more then the earlier disruption to his morning routine had. Silently he resolved to do something about this, he might not be knowledgeable enough in the Force to resolve just why it was coming so easily to him this morning, but he could figure out just what he had been doing over the last couple of days.

“I need a translator,” Ori spoke aloud for the first time that day. “No, I need training in accounting for the moment all I can get access to is a translator.” Pouring himself another cup of Caf he pulled up the ships status and checked if his Master had left him any instructions when he crashed. It seemed that he was in the clear for the moment, but that would change when his Master woke up. Worrying his lip Ori connected his pad to the planetary net and rand a quick search. If he didn’t understand this, and needed it translated, then his best course of action would be to find a translator. Of course, that proved to be the wrong thought when he contemplated it for a moment. He cleared his search, ignoring the com listings for accounting firms he had pulled up. This was an official Judicial investigation, while he had the credits to hire a skilled accountant to decipher what he had put down, and the accounts themselves, due to their earlier sale of the accounting droids it would not do to pull in an unvetted and uninvolved party. It would taint the evidence. 

Actually, that gave him an idea. He didn’t need an organic, he needed a droid. Cursing himself for not having the foresight to keep one of their cargo on hand in case they needed it at a later date he went looking for a professional droid shop. Given this was a world which had an expansive banking sector there had to be a thriving market for droids to help out the accountants. He would just need to find one and then purchase what he needed from there. Refining his search and looking up the best shops for accounting droids took another twenty minutes but by the time he was done with his pot of Caf he had an answer. It wouldn’t be cheap but he could solve this issue before his Master woke up and began to question him on just what the hell had happened. 

Ori refilled the Caf maker then tried to figure out the best way to go about accomplishing what he wanted to. Silently he made his way back towards his bunk, making only a minor diversion to open the ships safe and pull out the credits with. He paused for a moment and then with a nod pulled out both of his carry blasters for his captain persona. He wouldn’t be doing this as a Padawan after all, best to make sure he looked and acted the part. It only took him a few more moments to get the rest of his costume on, and call an air speeder. Then he was on his way towards the shop he had picked out earlier.

Most shops were closed this early in the morning, and the traffic in the air was sparse to put it mildly, but those droid shops closer to the financial districts were always open. It was a function of the banks being open twenty-seven hours a day to serve their clients throughout the galaxy. If something came up then they would need access to a droid shop and so the droid shops also stayed open. Good luck for him, or the will of the force as a more traditional Jedi would put it. Finding his destination took no time, the mapping function on the rented air car took him to his destination without any fuss. He parked on the modest pad the shop provided and made his way inside, much to the horror of the human on duty. It seemed his looks were not what this human was used to dealing with, not to mention the firepower he was carrying openly displayed.

“May I help you?” The proprietor asked in a clearly condescending voice. He wasn’t pleased to see a heavily armed Twi’lek waltz into his shop, and was probably worried about being robbed. Ori paused as he noted that he was sensing this beings’ intentions better than he had ever managed at the temple. It seemed that his Force sense had been substantially expanded by whatever the kriff had happened over the past couple of days, best to be cautious.

“I need an accounting droid,” Ori replied as he made his way over, ignoring how the human kept himself within arm’s reach of the cash register. Probably had his finger on the silent alarm, especially with the worry the human was projecting. “Professional grade is preferable, with a fluency in basic, but binary would do in a pinch.”

“You want an accounting droid?” The human asked disbelief clearly showing in his every word as he looked Ori up and down. “You do know how much a professional grade droid cost do you not?”

“Ten to fifteen thousand credits, assuming they are new,” Ori replied easily. “I want to keep my ship and that means making an investment in keeping my books in order.”

“Ah,” the human didn’t relax much but he did a little. From what Ori could sense he must have said the right thing. “Kelvin Melakar at your service, proprietor of this humble shop. I would ask if you have looked at the used droid shops closer to the spaceport. They tend to have what you need at a lesser price.”

“With no idea of just what their previous owner was up to, and the additional programming that was put into the droid, I do not want to have my accounts inexplicably drained one day because I missed something.” Ori replied easily. “Captain Ori’Daki at your service.”

“Very well Captain,” Kelvin felt himself relax a fraction more. It seemed that the good captain had at least a modicum of sense and was looking for surety in his purchase and was willing to pay for it. Coming to the most respected shop in the financial district made sense in that light. You never did know just what you were getting when you purchased a used droid, and there were horror stories about second hand droids still having the programming from their original owners bouncing around the galaxy. If it was hard coded into the droid, they could be very effective thieves. There was a reason why this shop never dealt in second hand goods after all.

“Just what are you looking for captain, if I may ask?” Kelvin arched an eyebrow at the Twi’lek. The Captain might not be his usual type of customer but he could respect what looked to be his motives. Not that he would allow himself to be drawn more than an arm’s length away from the silent alarm buttons as he served the Captain. That was common sense after all.

“Like I said professional grade, doesn’t have to be mobile, but it does need the processing power to handle accounts at least as complicated as those which a minor corporation would use. My ship my not seem like much but it is a small business, and as things go forward, I may want to expand. Having extra capacity in my accounting droid would allow me to be more inclined to trust those I deal with in the professional sector. My appearance puts me at a disadvantage when dealing with bankers and the like which means I need my own expert on tap to make sure they are not feeding me a line of baantha poo doo.”

The words sounded sincere to Kelvin, but he was well aware that the Captain was feeding him a line of crap. Respectable traders, even those starting out, did not wear what Ori wore. They tended to stick to custom tailored coveralls or line uniforms, and they certainly never went to see higher class beings with weapons strapped to their hips even if they did carry them when on their ships. The good captain was clearly a smuggler, especially given his species, and probably a slaver. That said it sounded like he did actually need accounting help. Given he was looking to purchase a droid rather than going through one of the many accounting firms of galactic repute on world he probably didn’t want to end up in debt to the Hutt’s. Kelvin weighed his options for a moment before deciding on a course of action. He would fulfil the Captains stated request, and act as if it was legitimate. True Captain Daki would get exactly what he asked for, rather then what he needed, but the extra couple of thousand credits wouldn’t hurt Kelvins bottom line. After all he got a commission on every droid he sold.

“This way please,” Kelvin motioned to the Captain and led him to the corporate display case. Unlike the astromechs with financial programming these looked simple, they were little more than cubes containing a droid brain, vocoder, and a data spike. They didn’t move, or have bodies of their own. If Captain Daki wanted more out of them he would have to put them into a body himself. If the Captain had been legitimate, then Kelvin would have pointed him towards the more multi-functional models, but given what he suspected he was inclined not to do so. The Captain wanted an accountant, and so an accountant he would get. Even if the droid did end up costing more than his ship was worth. “These are our corporate models, note that they are single function, and they come pre-loaded with several respectable basic sets of accounting software. Their vocoders are simple, binary, but they can be expanded on request.”

“How much,” Ori asked clicking his tongue as he looked over the models. Most of them didn’t speak to him, but one did. It looked like the simplest out of the droids, its casing was plain and utilitarian, lacking the decorative touches that the others had.

“Basic models start at nine thousand credits; they are functional for small businesses with up to fifty employees. Book keeping is included in each model using banking clan certified software, and they can be directed to monitor accounts. Their encryption protocols allow them access to the first level of any banking institution, if their owner clears it with the institution in question, so they have the capacity to monitor your accounts in real time. That said the encryption is a subscription service and without constant updates it will fall out of certification resulting in your droid being locked out of the banking net.”

“How much per year for the subscription?”

“One thousand credits, and while I offer the initial package re-enrolling can be done at any banking institution with many offering automatic re-enrolment if you have a linked account. It can be done automatically, so you don’t have to worry about your subscription expiring when you are in deep space or otherwise unavailable.”

“This one, tell me about it,” Ori pointed to the plain droid. Kelvin was clearly surprised but covered it well. He had thought that Ori would go for one of the more decorative models.

“X-1500, product of a small corporation on Muunilist. Capacity for managing up to one major project from a galactic corporation, auditing software included, they are relatively new to the market but the Muun have a good reputation and their previous droids have done well with auditors and the like. Very good for spotting irregularities in accounts, and breaking it down into basic without devolving into jargon.” Kelvin paused and then considered how to get the captain to actually shell out credits rather than just browsing. He would have to list some downsides to the droid he decided with a mental grimace. Beings like this Ori were not inclined to trust, and if he stuck with the standard corporate script, he would think it was a line. “The downsides to this model are the price, and the lack of reputation that the firm has. It has only recently begun to produce droids and while the first model they made was relatively well regarded it is uncertain if they will survive. Support might become an issue in a couple of years as start-ups in this sector do not have the best reputation for survival. If you do decide on this model, I would recommend that you pick a second droid to double check its work from a more reputable company, especially if you intend this to be a long-term investment. You might end up with an unsupported droid in a couple of years with no way to upgrade it.”

“While my last run has left me with a substantial cash infusion I am not made of credits,” Ori replied. “How much?”

“Base model is ten thousand,” Kelvin replied swiftly. “Adding on a basic language package for the vocoder is another thousand, as is the initial security and encryption subscription. The advanced auditing package is another two thousand.”

“That’s almost as much as my ship costs…” Ori grimaced as he admitted that. “Still… Do you have more language modules available or is basic the only one you offer?”

“We have several,” Kelvin went for the sale immediately. When a customer started asking about addons then you knew they were serious. “Unfortunately, Ryl is not one of them, the physical component of that language is impossible for the droid to replicate. Huttese is available, but again it is an additional thousand.”

“How long would it take you to load one of the droids with basic, Huttese, the auditing software, security and encryption, and an advanced bookkeeping capacity?” Ori asked cautiously.

“Twenty minutes at most, everything you listed comes in a read only chip which can be slotted in with ease to the brains expansion ports.” Kelvin replied wide eyed. “It would take longer if you wanted to have an expanded number of ports, up to twenty hours.”

“Does the brain have the capacity to accept a proprietary encryption module?” Ori asked biting his lip. “Or is that functionality something that will take time to install?”

“It comes standard as long as the encryption module uses a republic cat twenty port,” Kelvin replied quickly. “I know many are still using the cat eighteen or nineteen, but with the twenty on the market that was the connection used.”

“Understandable,” Ori looked at the droid again and then sighed. It looked like he was about to spend a lot of money. “Wrap one up for me, basic and Huttese language modules, enhanced auditing and bookkeeping, and the security and encryption subscription. That’s… seventeen thousand credits?”

“Nineteen with tax,” Kelvin said holding out his hand.

“Sometimes I wonder about the government,” Ori grumbled as he passed several of the credit chips, he had received from selling the astromechs to the Trade Federation over. “They make it awfully hard for an honest trader to make a profit.”

“Price of doing business,” Kelvin replied covering his surprise when the credit chips checked out. It seemed that the smuggler was at least honest enough with the money. Given how much Captain Daki had spent he could at least be sure that the captain wouldn’t try to rob him while he prepared the droid. “I will be back in a minute, if you would care to wait here.”

“Receipt?” Ori asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Will be included with the certificate of ownership when you take possession of the droid,” Kelvin answered easily.

“Very well,” Ori frowned as he said that. He wasn’t inclined to be that trusting, but this was a different world then he usually operated in. Then again in his last life he had gotten an immediate receipt every time he had made a major purchase even if it wasn’t delivered immediately. He certainly had gotten one when he put a down payment on his cars, even when he hadn’t taken delivery immediately. That might be biasing his thinking here.

* * *

  
Skrath Kri was unsurprised to find his Padawan up and active when he had completed his own morning ablations. Ori had crashed hard after immersing himself deeply in the Force. After going over his notes he had come to the conclusion that Ori had reached too deeply. He certainly didn’t have the training needed to accomplish what he had done with the accounts, and so had drawn himself deeper than he needed too in order to do what he had. That was going to be a problem. Ori was already leery of the Force and this experience would hardly make him more trusting. Especially since what he had done had been so out of character.

Pouring himself a final mug of Caf he made his way down to the cargo bay and observed his padawan. It seemed that despite his misgivings he hadn’t cut himself off completely from the Force. He was busy working out with three droids, using his Jar’kel to reflect blaster bolts with his eyes covered. Skrath forced down a wince as he observed. Ori was decent with a sabre, especially when he had two in his hands but his footwork. Skrath was going to have to work with him on that. As he watched Ori took a knee to avoid a stinger and then bounced to his feet completely out of position. He managed to impose his sabres before being hit by two bolts but a third that he should have been able to block got him. Skrath couldn’t hide his wince at that. If Ori had a better grounding, he could have dealt with that. Yet another thing to add to his list to work on with Ori. First things first though, dealing with the fallout from yesterday.

“I see the sleeper has awakened,” Skrath said mildly as Ori swept the improvised eye covering off his head. “I trust you had a good sleep?”

“I did,” Ori replied as he pulled out the remote which controlled the droids and then sent them back to sleep mode. “Not the way I wanted too though, and if this morning is any indication, I have no idea of just what I did.”

“That is understandable,” Skrath took a sip of his caf before continuing in a mildly reproving tone. “You went deep in the Force this time, too deep.”

“I am aware of that. It is not a danger I had anticipated when I tried to understand just what you were doing with Master Dza’lya. I had thought I was just sensing what you were doing and learning from it but it seems I started to act without being aware of myself. That is going to be a problem going forward.”

“It wouldn’t have been so bad if you hadn’t chosen to immediately get to work and then ignored the needs of your body, and more importantly in this instance your mind. The longer you immerse yourself in the Force, especially when you use it to refresh yourself rather then getting the sleep you need, the deeper you get. It is a self-reinforcing cycle that that has caught even more experienced Knights by surprise. For a Padawan that is a very real danger, you can get lost in the currents and never come out. There is a reason why we insist on having a Padawan bond at the temple before you are allowed to learn any of the deeper skills of our order. Part of our jobs as Masters is to pull you back out before you do something stupid and kill yourself on accident.”

“I had thought it had more to do with knowing when your Padawan was doing something smart but not wise then keeping your Padawan healthy.” Skrath could hear the question in Ori’s comment.

“It is, but what else could you call immersing yourself so deeply in the Force? Especially for you. You tend not to use the Force as much as other Padawans, so it does not surprise me that when you do you let it run wild. You didn’t have the lead up exercises to keeping yourself, because you always thought the Force was foreign. If you had a more normal relationship with it then this would have been less of a problem and you wouldn’t have gone nearly as deep as you did. As it stands, I’m going to have to work with you on that. Your antagonistic relationship with the Force is going to cripple you going forward unless we can get a handle on it.”

“More exercises on opening myself to the Force? Are you sure that’s wise? My reaction was not anything like what I had anticipated…”

“Ori,” Skrath almost groaned as he heard that it seemed his Padawan had an even more contentious relationship with the Force then he had first thought. “You are a Force sensitive.”

“Well yes,” Ori cocked his head to the side in confusion. “How else would I be a Padawan if I wasn’t?”

“Have you thought at all about what that means? Not in the abstract philosophical sense, but in the duracrete every day sense?” Skrath asked as mildly as he could. It would seem he would need to spend more time working with his Padawan on the basics then he had thought. The Temple had obviously badly miss handled his initial education in the Force, but he never would have thought it would be this bad.

“Not really,” Ori replied, his scepticism obvious even without the Force. “I mean its just a part of me, one I have to deal with.”

“Exactly, being a Force sensitive means you use the Force. If you weren’t trained then it would be unconscious use. Seeing as you have received at least the basic training it means you can consciously choose to use it, and will. Not using the Force isn’t an option for you.” Skrath took a deep breath before continuing. “Should you try not to use it then you will eventually call on it in an uncontrolled manner and that could be bad for you.”

“Not to mention my surroundings,” Ori acknowledge with a grimace.

“Exactly. Being a Force sensitive means you will use the Force, the only question is if you will be in control or not,” Skrath stated flatly. He didn’t mention the disturbing holes in Ori’s sense of self which were making the whole situation more complicated. If Ori had a more solid sense of self then he wouldn’t have nearly as many issues with using the Force and its effects on him would have been less then they were. How he had developed such an adaptable sense of self Skrath had no clue, but that was a problem for another day. “You have the potential, and some of the skills, but not the wisdom to know when and how to go that deep. It was impressive in its own right but…”

“It could be dangerous.”

“Very much so.” Skrath nodded in approval. “I know you dislike doing it, but you are going to have to get a handle on yourself when using the Force. Otherwise you could very well end up lost in the Force.” Or end up destroying things that I would much rather you didn’t. Planets are not especially replaceable after all Skrath continued in his head.

“Just what I wanted to find out…” Ori grimaced then changed the subject, not wanting to think further on the topic. He would have to clear his head before he tried to figure out what to do. “Have you looked over the data I generated?”

“I have, it was interesting if a little dense. I was forced to look up more than a few of the terms you used. My accounting certificate was not enough to understand everything.”

“You have an accounting certificate?” Ori asked wide eyed.

“Of course? How else would I know how to run an audit? Immersing yourself in the Force is all well and good as a temporary measure to acquire skills you do not have, but you still have to understand and explain your conclusions to other beings. Most of whom will not be as knowledgeable about accounting practices as they need to be to understand what you are telling them. Most beings who I work with on audits are judicial officers, and they have little understanding of the intricacies of banking. Even when I work with those who are in forensic accounting, I still need to be able to make our conclusions understandable to the judges we take our data to in order to get arrest warrants, or even further search warrants. That means training…”

“I should have thought of that,” Ori admitted. “Still I wish we had kept one of the astromechs we sold to the Trade Federation. It would have been cheaper than what I ended up doing after I looked over the data and couldn’t understand it.”

“Oh,” Skrath ran his hand over his face. This was going to be interesting. It seemed that Ori had gone and done something unexpected again. It only remained to be seen just what sort of disaster he had unleashed. “What did you do?”

“Well… I couldn’t understand what I was looking at and I thought that bringing in an outside firm to look over and audit the accounts would not be a good idea.”

“That was wise of you,” Skrath felt himself relaxing a bit when he heard that. He was halfway expecting that Ori had contracted looking over the banking data to an auditing firm. That would have been disastrous unless they were certified by the Judicial Forces as being an acceptable contractor. Even then he didn’t want this data to be widely spread about, letting other beings know that the Republic was in the process of starting to rearm could very well end up touching off the war they were seeking to avoid. No matter how well certified an accounting firm was they were not as discrete as a Jedi in their investigations. Perhaps the Judiciary’s financial crimes unit would have been a good idea but they were already overloaded. It would take them years to get around to processing the data, and they needed answers now rather then in a decade. Skrath lacked the authority to get them to concentrate on this problem, especially when he was well aware of their prior commitments. “The financial crimes unit then?”

“I… actually didn’t think of them,” Ori said in wonder. “We can ask them for support?”

“We can, though they are overloaded at the moment. Several of Chancellor Valorum’s allies are under investigation and that is taking up the majority of their time.” Skrath shook his head. “You do know that we are considered part of the Judiciary, yes? We can call on their assets in our investigations. You don’t have to deal with everything on your own.”

“I was under the impression that this was best dealt with discretely… and I am not sure just how much trust there is in the Judiciary at the highest political levels. Given what I found and could understand I thought it best to find my own way rather than involving others.” Ori covered nicely. Skrath could tell that it had never even crossed his mind to call in the rest of the Judiciary but his after the fact reasoning was sound enough not to comment on. He had no doubt that it hadn’t occurred to Ori to even try and call in support but he covered it nicely enough to avoid censure.

“So, what did you do?”

“I went and bought an auditing droid,” Ori replied promptly. “I may not understand what I’m looking at but with the droid to explain it to me…”

“Pricey…” Skrath considered the action and nodded his head in approval. They did have credits to burn at the moment and it was the most logical course of action. Ori would of course have to account for the money he spent, but it was hardly the first time a Jedi would need to pay for outside expertise. “I presume you have it going through the data now?”

“Yes Master, plugged in and crunching the numbers. It said it would need at least twenty hours before it was ready to present its preliminary results so I decided to take the time to work on my sabre skills.”

“And you believe we will be able to understand what the droid puts in front of us?”

“It is currently set for law enforcement auditing protocols, I believed that would be simple enough for us to understand it.”

“Security on the data?”

“Off line on a standalone system, and I plugged a Jedi encryption module into the droid, so unless the weakness comes out of the temple the droid should not be able to endanger the data.” Ori frowned a bit. “That might have been a bit paranoid of me but…”

“Best to be paranoid when you are using a second hand droid, financial crimes using droids is hardly unknown.”

“Oh, no, I bought the droid brand new from the most reputable shop in the financial district that I could find.” Ori said swiftly. “I remember you commenting about several cases you had where the criminal turns out to be the finical droids which were bought second hand. I would have chanced a second hand droid if I was better at understanding accounting and droid programming but…”

“You tend more to engineering and star ship design in technical matter and mercantile pursuits in technical matters so you played it cautiously. I approve… though expect to be grilled when we get back to the Temple about your expenses.” Skrath shook his head. Ori should have simply gone through the second-hand droid market and trusted the Force to find him what he needed, but he was unsurprised that Ori hadn’t. Despite what he was saying and acting like it seemed that Ori’s deep immersion in the Force had affected him more than he knew. Or at least more than he was willing to admit to. That could be a problem in the future, but it was one he was well equipped to deal with. “Since we are left waiting for your new droid to give us more data before we depart this world, I think it best if we continue on the path you have started… perhaps a spar?”

“It would be my pleasure!” Ori fiddled with his lightsabres, setting them to training mode.

“Single blade if you would,” Skrath said mildly as he set his own sabre to training mode with a burst of telekinesis and floated his now empty mug back to the kitchen. “I see that you are well acquainted with controlling your blades, but your footwork needs to be refined. That is best worked on when you only have a single blade to work with.”

“Yes master,” Ori stowed his second blade and drew himself up into the high guard of Niman. Skrath nodded, having expected that and advanced to the centre of the hold taking the low guard of his own favoured Makashi. Ori would need to work on more than just his form Skrath observed to himself. His mindset wasn’t quite were it should be. Too much free-wheeling improvisation and not enough precision as shown by his choice of forms. Also too generalist, if Ori wanted to be a successful investigator he would need to learn precision and focus. Perhaps pointing him towards Soresu? Ori would never have the patience for Makashi. Another ongoing project to add to the list. Who knew taking a padawan would be this exhausting?

* * *

“A thousand repetitions of the basic stances was excessive master,” Ori grumped as he walked into the mess. “I understand your point about my footwork, but springing that on me was just cruel.”

“It is the best way to learn,” Skrath replied eyeing the droid and its connected computer system sitting on the messes central table. “Be thankful that I didn’t decide to make you repeat each misstep ten times. You need to have these down, instinctually, before you are ready to move on. It’s like you missed the point of your missteps in the Force and never applied the lessons you learned to the rest of your life. Basics first, then build on that knowledge. You jumped too far ahead with your lightsaber forms and were good enough that the instructors at the Temple failed to point out your errors. That’s part of the reason why I told you that you would never be more than a competent swordsman.”

“I hadn’t thought of that,” Ori frowned as he contemplated what he was being told. “With the blaster and RCMA lessons I did follow that path… but in the saber?”

“I think the errors occurred before you came to your revelation about your path to the Force and because no one was correcting you naturally you thought that you were on the right track. Especially with how dominant you were in the spars I observed between initiates. Your bout with Master Koon should have pointed that out to you but…”

“I assumed he was just that much better than I was,” Ori admitted with a grimace. “I thought that I needed more practice not to revisit the basics again.”

“Well, it’s not as if you were wrong about that,” Skrath allowed. “Now onwards to actually doing our job.”

“X-RAD, display results and summarize if you will, in basic,” Ori said politely even as the holo projector built into the messes table sprang to life.

“In basic?”

“X-RAD is capable of binary, basic, and huttese,” Ori replied evenly. 

“Huttese.” Skrath replied flatly.

“Ryl was not one of the language options offered at that dealer,” Ori said looking over the flow chart which was being projected and pointedly ignoring his Master.

“Of course, you asked for ryl,” Skrath said with a sigh. That was going to cause problems when they went back to the temple. He knew that language modules from a respectable dealer were expensive, especially those which had specialized vocabulary like the one which was surely loaded onto an accounting and auditing droid. Still it was a problem for another day. “X-RAD?”

“Multiple streams of credits,” X-RADS vocoder was very basic, lacking the sentient tones of a more expensive model. “Projects differentiated from source. Initial stream marked as R and D funds. Escrow accounts established with Rendelii and KDY. Smaller vender’s escrow accounts listed as undifferentiated at this time. Conclusion, KDY and Rendelii contracts confirmed. Smaller contracts still in process of bidding.”

“Smaller contracts which have been confirmed please,” Skrath said even as he looked over the numbers. KDY and Rendelii, given the trillions held in escrow those would be capital ships.

“Rothana Heavy Engineering subsidiary of KDY, smaller items and large contract both confirmed.” X-RAD continued on. “Incom, Subpro, Slayn & Korpil, KDY Kuat still in process of being awarded contract. Data confirms competitive bidding process. Contract yet to be awarded. Research and Development funds released.”

“Interesting. Date on confirmation of Rendelii and KDY larger contract confirmation?”

“Two months.”

“Conclusions?”

“Research still ongoing, design process finished for one major asset by both parties. Secondary major assets yet to be accepted but contracts in place to cover eventuality. Competitive bidding procedures not in place. Recommended action audit of awarding parties.”

“Ori?” Skrath asked his padawans opinion mildly. 

“Surprised CEC wasn’t on the list…” Ori replied promptly. “Still… black project, with a capped budget? I would say KDY and Rendelii are going to be the primary contractors for the Republic’s capital assets going forward. That said, that’s a lot of tonnage master. If I’m reading this right then we are looking at more than thirty thousand ships ordered. Assuming there is a one to one correlation between the escrow accounts and a ship. Just eyeballing it, it looks like they established a production budget and then turned that over to the contractors with orders to build to the budget. Not a good practice but…”

“It’s a black development project,” Skrath agreed with his padawan. “These aren’t going to be Consular class cruisers.”

“No master, I think what we’re looking at is proper all-up capital ships…”

“And the smaller contractors?”

“Fighters.”

“Which leaves Rothana as the odd contract out. X-RAD, any indication of if that was a competitive bid?”

“No data. Contract locked in and additional accounts closed. Historical analysis impossible at this time.”

“Back to Master Dza’Lya?” Ori frowned as he suggested that.

“Not at this time, and not without disrupting his cooperation.” Skrath frowned as he thought about that. “Given we have a major contract, capital ship I would agree, and a minor contract awarded to Rothana I think we know where we are headed next.”

Ori opened his mouth and then paused. He pulled out his data pad and looked at what he had been working on just before he had been chased to bed by his master. There was a discrepancy here, between what X-RAD had found and his own recommendations. That made him pause before he spoke, thinking back and trying to figure out just where he had gone wrong given, he had been deeply immersed in the force, and if that was a problem.

“That would be my recommendation as well…” Ori chewed on his lip and tried to think of how to phrase his question. “Master, before I went to sleep one of the stops, I recommended was Rothana… but…”

“Something is bothering you,” Skrath stated flatly, remembering his own doubts about that conversation and the way that the force seemed to have deserted him when he was talking about testing the fighter craft. Despite having slept on it, his lack of interest in getting non-force sensitive pilots to look over the craft kept needling him. Reminding him every time he thought about it that there was something off here.

“Yes. I never bothered to look at the larger contract,” Ori replied slowly. “We would have gone and looked over what I presume is the ground forces equipment and completely ignored the ships which are already in production if the data says what we think it does. We would have completely ignored them. Or at least we would have if they didn’t catch our eyes while we were on planet… though given the way the Force has been acting, it wouldn’t surprise me if we missed them completely.”

“That…” Skrath paused and thought about what Ori was saying. The ships suddenly taking on an even more sinister overtone then the one they had just a moment before. Something was clearly at work in the Force here and he did not like it. There was no way he should have overlooked a contract for capital class assets, and his padawan who was specifically working on that very problem wouldn’t have overlooked it, let alone the disturbing possibility that they would have overlooked the ships being built while in system. If that was the case then they had bigger problems than just the Republic rearming in defiance of Ruusan. Of course, thinking of that brought forth the less then welcome thought of just who was rearming the Republic and why they were doing so without the support of the Jedi order, or at least the order in general. They might have the support of the council, but he doubted it. They tended to be stodgy and dogmatic at times, but reliably open about what they were doing, at least with their people. Even when they kept a secret, they still let you know that they were keeping a secret, not leaving you completely in the dark. Which brought him back around to Ori’s recommendations verses the data they were faced with when it was looked over by a professional. “Ori bring up your recommendations and let’s have a look to see what the Force nudged you into thinking was important…”

“KDY major contract, KDY minor contract, Rothana minor contract, and Slayn & Korpil minor contract were my recommendations for further inquiry,” Ori replied promptly.

“Not Rendelii, not Incom, not Subpro, and not the Major contract Rothana has…” Skrath tried to think of where the difference would be. Incom and Subpro were working together if he was reading this right, Rendelii had a capital ship contract, as did Rothana. Yet Ori had spent the majority of his thoughts on the minor Rothana contract, KDY, and Slayn & Korpil. Closing his eyes Skrath dredged up what he knew of the corporations involved, and tried to sort out just why the force would focus on those contracts. “There has to be something rotten at KDY. Three of the four contracts you recommended we look at were awarded to them. Yes, I know Rothana is nominally an independent but that’s as much baantha shit. Slayn & Korpil is an unknown to me, but if I had to guess they were looking to make inroads in the Republic with their fighter design. If I were given to speculation… you might have focused on what was going to directly affect you. KDY will probably be designing the Republics new command ship, they already produce the fighters most Jedi use so their next generation fighter is going to be something you and I would use. Given our reflexes I would say they’re coming up with a next generation interceptor. A next generation of their D line, to replace the D-6 Sprite we currently favour, though how in space a non-force sensitive is supposed to get the best out of those I have no idea. The Sprite is already too technically challenging for any but the best fighter pilot and the Jedi only get away with our obsession with it due to our nature. Slayn & Korpil are probably going for the main line contract as opposed to the interceptor contract so… you might very well end up using them as well. I really hope that they design for normal sentients, but it’s a coin toss if they do or not. I haven’t heard of them before so they’re a new company, so no clue which way they’ll go. Rothana? That’s for heavy ground side vehicles. Something you might end up working in concert with…”

“Does Rothana have any more contracts you are aware of X-RAD?” Ori asked, his lekku quivering as if he was a hunting Krath on the scent.

“One minor contract, subset of minor contract under discussion.” X-RAD Replied simply. “Unknown purpose, contract has higher per unit cost then minor contract under discussion. Contract has higher number of units on order. Reasoning unclear, taken from data should be the major part of contract under discussion but is subset of contract.”

“I don’t think we have the data we need,” Skrath frowned as he admitted that. “We are speculating just based on the accounts and their accompanying notations. I think our best course of action is to head to Rothana and see just how what we assume matches up to reality.”

“Of course, master,” Ori said with a grin. “I’ll get us clearance to lift and we can be on our way.”

“You do that,” Skrath replied his voice distracted. There was clearly something deeply wrong here, and he was going to have to meditate on it. There was no way they should have focused on just a few of the contracts while ignoring the majority of them Especially since they would only be taking a look at two of the five corporations involved. It was deeply disturbing that the Force had almost led them to ignoring the majority of their data. Yes, the Force should have pointed to the important bits, but they shouldn’t have almost been directed to ignore the rest of the data set. He would need to meditate and then probably to call the council. This sounded like it was the fabled veil of the dark side acting up, something he had not come up against before or even believed to really exist despite what the council said, so he would need to be cautious in how he approached this investigation. Or it could be some trick pulled from the archives by Dooku, for all that he was an ass the man was powerful in the Force and he did know how to research. Skrath wouldn’t put it past him to go into the archives and find a Force misdirecting skill and then put it into practice both to hide his actions from the council, which had been getting increasingly testy with his erratic behaviour before his resignation and to guarantee that no Sith uncovered his plot. Given he had resigned just after the Sith had surfaced once again he probably would justify himself by pointing to them as a threat, with the disruption of the council’s ability to oversee his little side project being a nice side benefit. 

From where Skrath was standing it looked a lot like someone was actively working against the Jedi in the force, and that wasn’t a comforting thought. If that was the case then he very well could have uncovered the first corrobatory piece of evidence that the order had found since the confrontation on Naboo that the Sith were active in the galaxy again. Of course, that depended entirely on Dooku not being the one to put this into place. Even if it was a dark side technique Skrath wouldn’t put it past Dooku to use it if only to get the Jedi thinking along the lines, he wanted them too. Given that this was a direct violation of Ruusan… Dooku’s proposals would almost certainly need to be looked at yet again. With the Republic in violation then the Jedi would be obliged to look at the treaty again and decide just what parts they wanted to keep and what parts to let fall by the wayside. The council could very well choose to ignore the violation and continue on like they were, it might even be both the politically expedient thing to do and the will of the Force. Too many possibilities, the politics of the situation made Skrath’s head hurt, he always preferred a nice simple investigation like the embezzlement of a few billion credits through means unknown to the complicated mess of politics. Especially Jedi-Senatorial politics, which made no sense to anyone.


	4. 4

“Rothana, a ball of dust and ice filled with corporate sharks, be cautious here my Padawan, if you show weakness, they will eat you alive,” Skrath intoned gravely as they made their way off the Serenity and down to the waiting welcoming party.

“From time to time I think you have a problem with melodrama master,” Ori replied even as his eyes scanned what was on display in front of them. Aside from the design team it seemed that Rothana Heavy Industries had taken out all of the stops when they were informed that an auditing team was on the way to their little corner of the universe. They had everything the Republic had ordered on display, and Ori couldn’t help but be impressed. The various AT-TE walkers were an impressive sight, especially in their variety. That said their numbers were dwarfed by the LAAT’s on display. Neither of the Jedi had expected them, but they were here so they both assumed that they were part of the contract. Given their heritage Ori was forced to nod in approval. Finally, there was the center piece to this display, a fully functional Acclamator class cruiser with its embarkation ramp down.

“Given this sight are you surprised? I had not thought that they would have been this far along…” Skrath said easily. “Impressions?”

“Looks like the shuttle is a variant of the AIAT platform, which has a good reputation from what I’ve read. If they kept parts commonality, I can see why they were selected without a competing bid. We already have the logistics structures in place to serve as a pipeline for those parts… and it is getting to be old enough that secondary manufacturers are offering replacement parts. Unless this turns out to have re-established the patent then we could be saving millions on repair costs,” Ori said meditatively clearly showing just how immersed he had been in the financial details of their investigation. He had been trying to learn everything he could from his new droid and Skrath approved. Following the money was one of the oldest investigator tricks in the book, both for the Jedi and the Judicial forces, and Ori had clearly learned of its importance.

“I had not thought of it that way, but I do agree… The rest of the hardware?”

“On the walkers… I have nothing. My own inclination would be to go with a repulsor tank similar to those deployed by the Trade Federation on Naboo… but, I don’t have the experience to judge. We will have to look over the test results carefully there, unless you have expertise in the field?”

“I do not, but I have seen enough faked tests to know about them. I think I will deal with that part of the investigation. The capital ships?”

“We could be in trouble there. I will need to look over the plans with the design team to get a real sense of it, but I would assume it’s a transport… a rather effective and heavily armed one, but still a transport.” Ori paused before continuing cautiously. “My concern there would be that it might have a completely new system architecture, one that hasn’t been tested yet. Unless this project goes live in less time then I think it will then we will not know if that is any good before the first time these ships go out into hostile space. Then again I have a suspicion on where it came from, and why it was approved for construction so quickly.”

“Your thoughts?” Skrath allowed a bit of scepticism into his voice.

“The frames different but…” Ori cocked his head to the side in thought. “I will need to look at the plans but I think it might be a derivative of the rescue ship KDY has been trying to get into service with the Judicial forces since the Stark hyperspace war. Of course I would need to get my hands on the plans that KDY submitted to be sure but…”

“You were the one who told me about the weakness of the hypernets security,” Skrath’s mouth quirked up at that. He had never thought about that before Ori had raised it but now he was aware he was being extremely cautious about using the hypernet. That was the reason he had for not reporting in to the Temple about the odd direction his investigation was taking him in. It was best not to let the information get out just yet, especially if the Techno Union really was as close to the Trade Federation as they seemed. Letting those two organizations know that the Republic was at least starting to rearm seemed like a really bad idea.

“I know, I just dislike not having access to all of the information I might need for this audit. I’m also not happy to be completely on our own for this… it seems too much like a single point of failure any enemy could take advantage of… and with the Sith active again…” Ori frowned as he said that. “Especially if I need to do any problem solving when I see the test results for the ships.”

“You think there will be problems?”

“It’s a new ship there are always problems, the question is if there are major issues or not. It could very well be a solid design but I will not know that until I look over its blue prints and see the testing done for myself…”

“And then perhaps arrange for there to be a little more testing?”

“Of the components, possibly,” Ori let his voice lower as they approached the gathered beings there to welcome them. “Perhaps we can convince them to put out a competitor to the Dreadnought heavy cruiser using their newly developed systems.”

“An idea for the future,” Skrath said guardedly. He knew all too well just what kind of mischief his padawan would get up to unless sufficiently restrained. He wouldn’t put it past Ori to redesign a whole new class of ships, or at least pass the design team the idea, and then act confused when someone asked him just why there were new capital ships being acquired by the system defence forces. It might be a good idea, especially since this had been a no bid tender, but it could very well disrupt the balance of power within the Republic as the newer system defence forces grew in power over their older counterparts. That had the real possibility of sparking a war or two if it got out of hand.

“Master Jedi, I am project leader Evianthia Moril, and I welcome you to Rothana,” The leader of the delegation which had come here to meet them said easily. An older human with an aristocratic air about him he was exactly what Skrath envisioned when he thought of a project lead for a corporation like KDY or RHI, which made him slightly suspicious. He wasn’t fool enough to think that reality matched his expectations so completely.

“I thank you for the welcome project leader,” Skrath inclined his head in a minute bow. The man was clearly Kuatii and it wouldn’t do to allow him to think he was thought of as more then he was. It would be wise to walk softly here, despite his suspicions. “I see that the Republics credits are hard at work here. The new lander, a version of the AIAT?”

“You recognize it, excellent,” Evianthia clapped his hands in delight. “Yes, exactly! I told the committee that it would be appreciated if we stuck with an existing design. The technical challenges posed by the Walkers and the new heavy cruiser, the Acclamator, were more than sufficient for my engineering teams. By sticking to the AIAT framework we brought the project in two years early, and more then a couple of million credits under budget. I’m sure as an auditor you can appreciate that!”

“Naturally,” Skrath smiled easily at the delighted man. “I will need to go over the books with my Padawan, but that can come later. What can you tell me about these new walkers? How extensively have they been tested? And a new heavy cruiser? That is quite the accomplishment…”

“The walkers were a bit of a challenge, nothing we couldn’t overcome,” Evianthia enthused leading the two Jedi towards the waiting crowd. “Engineer Lothal here was the project lead on them, I’m sure once you have had time to adjust you can ask questions to your hearts content. As for the Acclamator project? Young mistress Kuat lead the design team, she’s been trying to get a grasp on the more technical aspects of her family’s business and felt it best to start at the bottom rather than at the top.”

“Engineer Lothal, I expect you and I will have many fruitful conversations in the days to come,” Skrath shook the engineer’s hand readily finding his solid impression in the force to be reassuring. He was a good man, and one that could be trusted to do the job he was set too, unlike the other project lead. She was clearly calculating just how she could turn this to her advantage within seconds of finding herself in front of a Jedi Auditor, and despite Evianthia’s claims her path to this point was not as simple as he had represented. Sometimes Skrath wondered at people’s abilities, you would think that a major project lead would have known better then to lie to a Jedis face. He swiftly reached behind him and tapped Ori before his padawan could say anything and dropped into a core style bow as cover for his movement. “Mistress Kuat, I’m sure I will enjoy your acquaintance as well.”

“And your own entourage?” The young noble asked as she replied to his bow with a minimal curtsy.

“My padawan, Ori’Daki,” Skrath replied blandly. “He has a substantial interest in engineering… I expect him to be of great use to you when dealing with the bureaucratic difficulties inherent in bringing a new ship to market. I imagine you will get to know him very well over the next few weeks as he seeks to assist you in avoiding the usual problems the civil service throws into the path of a hard-working industrialist like yourself. Despite the secretive nature of this project the Acclamator will still require Republic certification.”

“While I do not deny my part in bringing this project to fruition perhaps, he would be better served by working with my second, Reginal Kiilik, as he has been the driving force behind the engineering team much to my pleasure,” Kuat deflect deftly. Skrath simply smiled, it seemed that things were going right today as Ori would end up with an introduction to the person whom he really needed to talk to. Mainly due to the Kuat scions core bread speciesism. Still there was information to poke at here, and now did seem to be the time.

“Excellent, I must compliment you mistress on your decision to do things the right way. All too often in my line of work I run into scions of impeccable breeding who decide that the galaxy is their oyster and all that is needed is a word from their family before it conforms to their wishes.” Skrath hid his grin as a sour look stole over the young noblewomen’s face. It seemed his guess had been right on the money; she was here as a punishment for some offense and had joined the project as a way to regain her stature with her family. An old story one he had heard many times before, but suddenly Ori’s concerns about the cruiser took on more weight. A young engineer, and Reginal was young, under the guidance of an ambitious noble was a recipe for disaster. She would have pressed for the project to be brought in on time no matter the obstacles and given his youth there would have been tests that Reginal might not know to run. Still that was a concern for later. 

The rest of the introductions passed in a blur, even as Skrath made sure to put names to faces in his own mind. Most of the engineers here would not be important to his audit, just the project leads who controlled the purse strings. They would be the ones he focused on first, letting Ori loose on Reginal to prove or disprove his worries over the fitness of the cruisers. While he and Ori worked to see the utility of the equipment that was to be provided to the Republic X-RAD would chug along in the background completely ignored, finding all of their dirty little financial secrets. Ori might have spent too much on the droid but it was a useful piece of equipment. He might end up getting one of his own when his padawan graduated to knighthood. 

* * *

Lester Con had been a twenty-year man, served his time in the Judicial Forces before retiring to a lucrative position as a KDY/RHI test pilot, as such he had worked with Jedi before unlike the rest of his co-workers. They hadn’t known what to expect when a Jedi auditor popped up out of the blue on them. Lester had just shrugged and gotten on with making preparations, and he was pleased he had been spot on with what to expect. Despite needing to look over every scrap of data which they could get their grubby hands on the Jedi always wanted first-hand knowledge. It wasn’t enough for them to read it on a screen, or see it on a holo, they had to be there and experience things for themselves before they came to a real conclusion.

That tendency to be hands on very neatly explained just why the Acclamator, name ship for the class and general test vessel, had been pulled out and was once again run through its paces. Padawan Daki had wanted to be on board while the Acclamator was tested, he had been especially interested in the final approach tests. He had enough pull to get the RHI upper management to allow the tests, even if they had been completed satisfactorily before. Testing had gone as expected, fully within the established parameters. The Acclamator was a good ship, and she did her job well. The only surprise was that Daki had asked for several crash descents, even going so far as to ask that they simulate being under fire while on final approach. That concerned Lester, he didn’t know of any enemy to the Republic who could threaten the new ship. Still Jedi would do what they would do. Better to do as they asked, getting the results you wanted, rather then allow them to report you were an obstacle to be overcome to the Senate.

“Master Pilot Con,” Reginal Kiilik said as he noticed the pilot walking down the corridors towards the LAAT bay. Daki wanted to fly a few of the LAATs, as expected of a Jedi, and so Lester was serving as his co-pilot. “How do you think this inspection has gone?”

“Well,” Con replied easily.

“I had thought so too… and then Padawan Daki started to ask for more hands-on testing,” Kiilik grimaced as he said that. “I don’t understand that. He already had the data; we gave it to him after all. It seems like a waste of credits to me.”

“Never had to deal with the Jedi before?” Lester laughed lightly as he said that. “They aren’t like other beings. Data isn’t enough for them, they need to be hands on before they are satisfied. Mind you they usually come to the conclusion that the data they had was right… but every once in a while, they find something that the data didn’t cover. Every time I’ve had to deal with them its ended up with at least a little hands on work.”

“You have experience?” Kiilik raised an eyebrow and fell in beside the pilot as they made their way towards the landing bay. “I would ask your advice then, as I have not had the pleasure before.”

“Very hands on, they believe things they experience for themselves above any report.” Lester shrugged as he said that. “They might call it the will of the Force, but from what I’ve seen they just train their intuition to an absurd level. Don’t bother trying to lie directly to their faces, you can get away with it over a screen but when they can see you it’s pointless. Better to deflect and answer truthfully but misleadingly if you want to hide information. Mind you I doubt you need to, but just in case keep that in mind. Being forthright with them will win you points, they won’t show it but if they think you’re telling them the truth they won’t dig nearly as far. If they think you’re lying then they will never stop digging. It’s why the Senate believes their reports so completely, even when they publicly pretend not to.”

“And this Force they talk about constantly? I know many in the galaxy believe such superstition but I have yet to come across anyone who knows of it beyond the usual dogmatic religious answers,” Kiilik frowned as he admitted that. Lester knew why of course. Everyone had heard of the Force but actually seeing it in action? That was rare. For those who hadn’t seen real evidence with their own eyes, especially logically minded beings like engineers, it seemed to be more religious dogma then it was a real thing. He knew better, having served three times with Jedi during his Judicial career, but he could understand just where his superior was coming from.

“It’s real, although I don’t think it’s nearly as all powerful as they like to pretend. Most of what I’ve seen Jedi do can be explained by training or insane twitch reflexes.” Lester pondered how to get what he knew across to Reginal in a form he would accept. “They can move objects with their mind, I’ve seen them do so, and reflect blaster bolts if called to do so. Beyond that? For all they talk of foresight and the like I have seen them be blindsided so I don’t believe that is an actual thing, just part of the mystique which makes their jobs easier. If your opponent thinks you already know their transgressions…”

“Then they don’t bother to hide as well as they should,” Kiilik replied easily. “It’s a trick I have used myself from time to time.”

“Yes sir.”

“So, I should treat them as smart and capable investigators, not religious nuts who have the confidence of the senate.”

“Exactly sir. They have more in common with the best Judicial Force investigators, thirty-year men and the like, then they do with monks despite the trappings they affect. You can’t hide anything from those sorts of people, they always know, so best not to try. I think it’s the age which trips people up when dealing with the Jedi. They don’t have the years a veteran investigator would have, so people dismiss them and think that they don’t have the instincts when that’s exactly what the temple trains them in. I always thought that’s why they are taken so young. They start teaching them how to read people better than an Echani at a young age, and that sort of training sticks with you throughout your life. Not to mention that despite their talk of the Force, well I’ve never seen one who was successful and didn’t do the background work needed. The only time I ever saw a Jedi run into trouble was when the idiot didn’t do the work.”

“Makes sense, thank you for your time,” Reginal broke off just before they reached the hanger allowing Lester to walk in without having the project leader there with him when he met the Padawan. It seemed Reginal was still getting a handle on how to deal with the Jedi who had just popped into his orderly world. When the blast door opened and he got his first look at the Padawan Lester decided to concentrate. The concerns of his nominal superiors couldn’t be clouding his mind while he was walking a pilot through their first time using a new craft, familiarization flights could get exciting in a real hurry if you didn’t have a measure of just who you were working with.

Silently Lester looked over Daki, he knew that the Twi’lek was a Padawan, a larval Jedi, but all of the Jedi he had worked with before had been knights. Lester compared what was before him, and the attitudes he displayed, to his own experience and was pleased to see that this Padawan was demonstrating the habits of the better Jedi he had worked with. He was dressed in a flight suit, not in robes, which was always a good sign. It meant Daki was taking this seriously. The only objection he had to the Padawans appearance was the lack of a crash helmet, but that might be a piloting arrogance thing not a Jedi thing.

“No helmet?” Lester asked as soon as he was close enough to be overheard over the cacophony of the bay.

“Wrong species,” Daki replied with a wry smile. “Apparently no Twi’lek or Togruta pilots have been assigned to this project so everything I could find was made for human or near human norms. With my Lekku, I can’t wear one of those helmets without injuring myself.”

“True,” Lester admitted with a slight frown. He was well aware of just how heavily over represented humans were in the Judicial Forces but there should have been at least a couple of flight helmets set up for alien physiology. Something he was going to have to look into later, especially given only humans had tested these vessels. There might be unanticipated issues when another species was in control of one. “I presume you read the ten eighty on the LAAT?”

“Of course,” Daki nodded his head with a grin. “I’m pilot enough to know better than to try and control a new ship blind. It was an interesting read, though you might want to revise it a bit. It spends too much time going over the LAAT as if it’s a new craft, and not enough time pointing out the differences in flight characteristics between the LAAT and the AIAT which most judicial pilots will be used to. If you keep the documentation as it is, you’re going to have a lot of veteran pilots disregarding the ten eighty and going with their own experience. Too many of the sections are the same, especially at the beginning of the form, and you know pilots…”

“All too well,” Lester mentally cursed and resolved to have a second look at the ten eighty for the LAAT. He had read the first draft, but he hadn’t seen it since then. It sounded like he was going to need to do that before these ships were released into general service. He was well aware of pilot’s tendency to cut any corner possible on the paperwork side of things in order to get in more flight hours. If the ten eighty was too similar to the AIAT’s then it was going to be disregarded, costing the Judicial forces a lot of veteran pilots when they ran into trouble and tried to use the old manual to get out of it. “Any questions come to mind before we mount up?”

“How much testing was done on the angle of descent maximums?” Daki replied promptly. “Most everything else I’m comfortable with but that section was a little thin.”

“Not as much as I would have liked,” Lester admitted. “Doctrine is to come in on a closer to level flight path then a crash dive, as such the testing was a bit less thorough then I would have liked. It made sense, especially given that trying a crash dive with a walker underslung would be a bad idea, but I’m well aware of just how crazy some pilots can be.”

“I thought so… They focused on the walker lander variants, didn’t they? Makes sense as this is really close to an AIAT but…”

“There are enough differences to concern you.”

“Exactly.”

“True enough,” Lester clicked his tongue on his teeth in agreement. “Let’s get you loaded up and run through what you want. We’ve got the trainer variant to fly so I will have a mirror of your controls, and the ability to override if I think you’re getting too crazy, but I trust that will not be necessary. Just about the only difference between this and the line LAAT is the lack of turrets. They don’t effect the flight characteristics so they were left off, but keep that in mind while you’re throwing it around the sky. In atmo it is possible to rip them off, but I want you checked out before I let you try to do that.”

“You really think I would try?” Daki asked innocently.

“Jedi you may be, but I can tell you’re a pilot first,” Lester replied with a grunt. “No pilot worth his salt wouldn’t want to push his craft to the limit and beyond. Plus, Jedi, I’ve worked with you crazy bastards before so I know just what sort of pilots you make.”

“True enough…”

“This is a mess,” Ori stated blandly to his master as they looked over the documentation that they had going through for the past week. “The request for proposal is inadequate for any army, the Acclamator is good for its role but the LAAT’s? There we have a major issue.”

“I take it your familiarization flight with them was less than satisfactory?” Skrath replied even as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing in the documents he was looking over. He might have been more qualified than Ori to look at the ground vehicles but that wasn’t saying much. He had ended up giving himself to the Force, much as Ori had to analyze the accounting, and like his Padawan had been left scratching his head at what he had produced. That was one of the downsides of giving yourself to the Force, although he had the training to make sense of the results better then Ori had. 

“In some ways yes, in others no,” Ori replied. His face scrunched up into a look of concentration. “Given the specifications which RHI worked off of they did a wonderful job. The LAAT is a masterful design compromise, it utilizes the repulsor systems from the AIAT transport to achieve its job without inventing a new system but…”

“You think the requirements were written wrong?”

“I think the requirements were written from an overly focused viewpoint,” Ori replied readily. He was fully prepared to defend his position. “For the Acclamator, they were good. They specified getting down to a low atmospheric level or even landing while under fire. That is sensible, and it works considering the mission of the ship. Mind you I would have liked to see at least some of the firepower being turreted so it was more useful during planetary approaches, but that is a compromise that the designers made with full knowledge of the trade-offs they were making. They prioritized the landing mission over the penetration mission and I can’t really argue with them about that. It’s the LAAT requirements which bother me, they are way too peculiar, especially in light of the Acclamator design.”

“How so?”

“Lack of space capabilities at the moment, its one of the corrections which I submitted to the design team. The other major issue I have is the troop compartment, there is no way to strap in as it stands now and if LAAT’s come under fire when landing then you are going to have the troops thrown across the compartment injuring them even before they land. The restraint system is if anything even worse, it’s a series of overhead holds. When the pilots throw their ships across the sky to avoid enemy fire then you are going to have a whole rash of broken arms and dislocated shoulders from the troops.” Ori leaned back with a sigh. “I swear those parts look like they were taken from some other vehicle and not improved, but by the Force I can’t figure out which one. Whatever it was it certainly wasn’t a military assault craft.”

“You have more concerns,” Skrath turned his attention fully to his padawan. Ori hadn’t said anything, but his tension was bleeding out into the Force even as he spoke in a calm and collected manner.

“Not… so…. Kriff it, yes,” Ori admitted with a slight slump of his shoulders. “It’s a minor thing but… the troop accommodations on the Acclamator, they are too uniform.”

“Too uniform?” Skrath asked with a raised eyebrow. “I rather thought that as a military transport they would be uniform?”

“They should be, yes, but the Republic is a multi-species entity. The troop barracking portion of the request doesn’t leave any room for customization based on species… and…” Ori tried to think of how to verbalize his worries. “Also, the specifications in the request are too specific while at the same time off the galactic average. If you take humanoid species with a propensity for militarization you end up with an average height of somewhere around one meter seventy, so the request should be for the ship to accommodate humanoids with an average height of one meter seventy-five. Even when you include less militaristic species the average doesn’t go above that, if anything it goes lower even when you include species like the Wookie’s or accommodating Togruta’s montrails. It doesn’t make any sense to me for the specifications to be outside of the established galactic averages. But they are, and to a worryingly specific degree. Instead of going with the average, they went with accommodating troopers who had an average height of one meter eighty-three centimetres, which isn’t a number I can understand. It’s too specific to be drawn out of the air without cause, but the cause isn’t available in the request.”

“You…” Skrath pursed his lips and tried to work through his Padawans logic. He wasn’t sure if the numbers Ori had stated were completely correct but given the disparities, he could see the logic in what Ori was arguing. He could also see just why the specifications overly specific number, which was off the established galactic average, would disturb his Padawan. “Are correct. If we take the height as given that means someone is already recruiting soldiers, or at least has established physical requirements for the soldiers they intend to recruit. Given we in the order haven’t heard anything about such a recruitment drive that is a worrying discovery. We will have to look into it when we get back to the Temple. Now, not to dissuade you from speculating, but expand on the issues with the request for the LAAT?”

“It’s far too focused, like I said, whomever came up with it is assuming that the Acclamators will be able to penetrate any contested orbitals to land their troops, at least getting as far as the atmosphere. I don’t think that’s true, its wildly optimistic… on their own, at least. The exclusion of an interplanetary drive, and a hyper drive, on the LAAT might be a money saving device but it cripples the landing potential of the craft in operational service. If I were writing up the specifications for the LAAT I would have started with the AIAT frame, shrunk it down a bit to hit the troop capacity, and then left it alone. Whomever wrote this request pulled most of the versatility from the AIAT in the interest of their own priorities. That’s especially visible in the troop compartment as I was saying earlier,” Ori explained his position. Skrath found he couldn’t disagree with his Padawan about the loss of utility which the LAAT accepted over the AIAT, or about his suspicion of why that had occurred. “As it stands the Acclamator, or some other capital ship, is going to be needed to put our theoretical troops into atmosphere before they can land. I don’t think we have enough capital assets in the Judicial Forces to do that.”

“So, you think we should amend the request to provide an interplanetary lander?”

“That or we amend the capital ship requirements to accommodate the AIAT in sufficient numbers to fill the hole in the LAATs capabilities. If nothing else then commando missions are going to require smaller ships for their insertion, and I don’t think that anyone whose standing up a galactic scale army is going to want to set up a completely separate supply line just to accommodate the needs of any commando units.”

“Why does this worry you?”

“Because it will directly affect us, as Jedi,” Ori replied promptly. “If there is a war then we are going to be called on to serve on the front lines, probably attached to the commando portions of the army if we aren’t asked to take command. When that happens… Jedi serve best as small unit commanders. We should have a standardized means to pull a company or less along with us when we go on missions. From what I see in this request we are going to need to pull a full legion in order to have standardized transport or go on every mission using our own resources.”

“You do not believe we should take command of the army being built,” Skrath said with certainty. He had never gotten a clearer indication from the Force then he had now. Something about the thought Ori had just verbalized had made the Force jump up and down like an excited puppy. For all of his extensive knowledge, and use, of the Force this was a first for Skrath. He had never been one for prognostications, and so he was left unsure of how to deal with this. He badly needed the wisdom of those Masters who regularly attempted to divine the currents of the Force for answers, and given the situation he did not think it safe to do so over a Holonet call.

“No, I do not,” Ori answered firmly, but there was a note of trepidation in his voice. As if he feared saying what he saw out loud. “I think I could do so, eventually, but the cost of learning how to command would be unacceptable in terms of lives lost. I believe with training I could easily lead a company or smaller sized unit, but an entire legion such as one Acclamator would bring to the battlefield? I would be lost, and swiftly overwhelmed by the currents of the Force when I’d leaned on it for the expertise which I would desperately need. I’m not sure if there are any Jedi who have the basic requisite knowledge to lead such a large force without extensive training and retraining. I think the only Jedi who would be able to use the Force to navigate such a situation would be those who sit on the council…”

“And if they were out in the galaxy leading army groups then they would not be doing their primary jobs and lending the Jedi who need it their wisdom…” Skrath contemplated the hypothetical situation which Ori was sketching out. A terrible suspicion entered his mind, and he thought about voicing it but decided that doing so would not be prudent at this juncture. He would have to talk with Ori about his prophetic abilities at a later date, but now was not the time. “Have you checked the data we got from Master Dza’Lya to see if there was a request for proposal for an assault shuttle? Because it sounds to me like that is exactly what you are looking to turn the LAAT into.”

“I hadn’t considered that,” Ori frowned as he made that admission. “You think that another company would have gotten that contract? From what I’m seeing Rothana seems to have snagged most of the troop related contracts, at least in terms of space assets.”

“Yes,” Skrath thought for a moment, remembering exactly who made the current shuttles that the Judicial forces used. “Perhaps Cygnus Spaceworks? If I remember correctly, they already make shuttles for the judiciary. Then again, perhaps not. Still the idea that Jedi would need to command such large forces is a worrying one.”

“Exactly. It’s why I want to push for RHI to use what they have already developed to provide the mid rim with an acceptable warship. If the Jedi aren’t prepared to lead a war then we need to have established a reliable source of commanding officers. The SDF’s which exist at this time, aren’t that. The only ones big enough to provide the officers we would need are…”

“Completely unacceptable to most of the galaxy,” Skrath acknowledged. He was well aware of just how few friends the core worlds had made over the past century, and how they were viewed by the rest of the republic. This was something he would need to meditate one, deeply, before he came to a real conclusion. For the moment, perhaps it was best to let his Padawan have his head. “We cannot change the requirements laid down in this contract, much as I would like to. We do not have that power. My own inclination would be to let things shake out, discover the currents of the Force and let our investigation lead us to the answers we need. Unfortunately, we do not have the time to do so… perhaps it would be best if you went ahead with your scheme for the Mid Rim. If nothing else it will provide us with a fallback position should the worst come to pass.”

“You are not worried about it creating the very threat whomever contracted this fleet expected to face?” Ori asked wide eyed.

“No, this fleet, and everything connected to it is clearly bent towards countering a threat which exists now, in this moment. It isn’t the result of a Force user prognosticating; it is too narrowly focused. Someone in the senate fears just what the Trade Federation and its allies will do once their will is thwarted too many times through the legal channels available to members of the Republic,” Skrath laughed without mirth as he said that. “Everything we have seen here is built to directly counter a known part of their military, and I would not be surprised if the rest of the contracts we have discovered are the same. If anything, that worries me more than it should, everything we have found is too symmetrical. It’s as if our mysterious senatorial friends looked at the intelligence reports the Judicial Forces provided them regarding Naboo and then used those to set the requirements for this contract when they should have said that those intelligence reports were the minimum requirements.”

“To play the Sith advocate,” Ori again hesitated in reluctance. “They might very well be doing just that. Everything we see here has been done covertly, and I doubt that hiding the funding for this was easy. Could it be that they lack the resources to do more then give us parity for the beginning stages of any war they predict?”

“That is logical,” Skrath agreed mildly then speared his Padawan with a look. “But since it’s your ‘Sith advocate’ position, you don’t believe it.”

“I don’t,” Ori admitted without concern. “I think that the Senate is, at this point in time, an inherently corrupt institution. One which has grown to reward corruption in almost all of its forms. Given that war is inherently wasteful, then greater opportunities to gain power and money exist. I… feel… that anyone senate side who sees a war coming is looking at the opportunity it represents for them personally, and not for the good of the Republic. They are investing now on the cheap, and waiting for their investment to thrive when and if a war breaks out, before they reap the rewards of their foresight. Not only that but by aiming for parity with their initial investment they can guarantee a long war with many follow up contracts as the Republic struggles to gain the upper hand… and that would mean profit for any far sighted being who predicted the war in the first place.”

“That is an unfortunately plausible explanation,” Skrath admitted. He could see just how Ori had reached that conclusion, one wouldn’t even need the Force to see the plausible scenario Ori had concocted, just a sufficiently cynical outlook. One that Ori had in full, along with very little belief in the value of the senate, or the rest of the institutions of the Republic. “Which is why I am entertaining your suggestion at all.”

* * *

“Your report X-RAD?” Ori asked softly as he tried to calm his mind while making his way towards the office of the engineering team in charge of the now Acclamator project. He was about to try and immerse himself in the Force once again, to control the flow of conversation, and achieve his objectives. Skrath might believe that he was going to be finding everything there was to find about the Acclamator project from first hand observation and he had every intention of getting Skrath his information, after all anything that made Palpatine’s life harder made his more likely to continue, but just finding the clones wasn’t the only avenue available to him in order to disrupt Palpatine’s plans.

“Accounts check, minor deviations within the expected standard deviation,” X-RAD answered in huttese. Ori had taken to having the droid converse in just that language as long as they were on world. KDY and RHI employees tended to be core worlders, and they had absorbed the racism and speciesism that the empire had later preached as easily as their mothers’ milk. High human culture was a cancer on the galaxy, but it could not be removed due to the political situation. With the Core holding almost all the power in the Senate the toxic ideology was allowed to flow unchecked from the Core out to all of the human colonies. Yet another reason for him to work to subtly strengthen the Mid Rim, they didn’t have that problem. With the generalized retreat of the Judicial Forces from the Rim and the rise of corporate militias they had bigger problems. “Tranches of Acclamator class vessels identified. Data on where the finished vessels are to be delivered not available, escrow accounts to be closed at the other end via one-time pad coding protocols. Close code indicated satisfactory delivery.”

“Has there been enough activity in the materials purchasing accounts to indicate that the vessels have been completed, and has payroll logged the hours needed to complete the ships?” Ori asked mildly. He thought he knew where they would go but if Palpatine had made a mistake here he might be able to delay the clone wars. Especially if he could prove more than one of those ships had slipped its mooring and headed out before Naboo had occurred. One Acclamator on its own could be plausibly denied, not serial production.

“No. Indications of expected industrial accidents and insurance pay outs match with past performance of the yards.” X-RAD replied firmly. “Combined with resource account activity and payroll it can be concluded that the ships are still being built.”

“Any indications of where those ships will go?” Ori asked faintly. He had a very good idea, but he wouldn’t be able to prove it. Kamino was for the moment a lost world. Or at least he thought it was, he had never been clear on when it had been removed from the Jedi archives and his memory wasn’t perfect. “Additionally, is there any indication on how those ships are to be delivered? Perhaps hiring an outside crew?”

“No data available.” X-RAD replied primly. “Termination and acceptance codes are accepted via hypernet. No plans registered in RHI systems for delivery, indicating outside sources for delivery and verification plans.”

“So, we know the ships are being built and they are going somewhere in the galaxy, just not here. X-RAD, go to observe and record mode for this next meeting, best not let them know we brought a proper auditor to back up the Jedi,” Ori sighed as he said that X-RAD did have an ego, and it was best to placate him or he might intentionally disrupt things. Then he squared his shoulders took a deep shuddering breath, and let himself go. He let the Force flow through him, the calming energy filled with a great and terrible purpose. Something felt wrong here, he knew it deep in his bones, but Ori took another deep breath and let himself push the door open and greet the engineering team he was here to see. He couldn’t afford to let his issues get in the way of accomplishing his missions, all of them. “Master Kiilik it is good to see you again!”

“Padawan Daki,” Reginal said evenly. The young human was a bit overweight but he looked healthy to Ori’s eyes. The rest of his team, not so much. They all showed signs of sleep deprivation and their skins held the pallor of those who rarely if ever saw the light of a true star. “You requested the team brief you on the testing performed on the first Acclamator before it was accepted into service…”

“Yes, it was rather odd we did not have an independent team out here to do the evaluation,” Ori replied simply. “Outside of procedure you could say. Having the yard which designed and built the ship being the same one to test it, is going to raise issues in the Senate. Having looked over your documentation I liked what I saw, but you know politicians…”

Ori looked around to see the effects that his words were having on the team. They had looked slightly reassured when he announced he had looked over their documentation, but their faces fell when he mentioned how irregular their testing had been, and soured even further when he mentioned the Senate. From what he was feeling they all believed in the project, and thought it would work as advertised. That said sentients did have this little self-delusion problem so it would be better if he went over what they had done with them and tried to poke holes in it.

“What more could you want!” one of the female engineers spoke up with a distinctive Kuatii accent. Not having been introduced Ori didn’t know her name but he did know that she would be the key to getting what he wanted, this knowledge washed over him even as she continued a belligerent tirade. “We ran all of the standard tests, not just the ones required, we pushed that ship almost to destruction with the testing we did. Then when that was over, we took her into dark space, set her computers to run a simulation, and ran that simulation while at full power. When that worked, we went back and did it again with a couple of corvettes who shot at her while she was running the simulation just to be sure that there wasn’t an error in her power grid.”

“Myra, enough,” Reginal said plaintively running his hands over his face. “I know the testing was good, you know it, but Padawan Daki wasn’t there and he has to convince the Senate that we did what we said we did.”

“They should take our word for it,” Myra snapped back mulishly. Suddenly Ori knew just how to get her onboard. She had been the lead engineer on the Venator hanger section he had accidentally been sent. He should have just thought it was part of a proposed refit for the Acclamator, but he had recognized it as part of a Venator, a project he shouldn’t have known about. He had his in. She would want to show the engineers back on Kuat they were wrong to send her into exile and that her designs would have been perfect for their big project. Of course, he had to do this without letting on that he knew what the design had originally been for. 

“Well yes, the results from your tests were impressive. I was particularly impressed by your dedication during the run with the corvettes, that was inspired… I think the recordings you gave me are good enough, they certainly are thorough. Still I actually do a bit of dabbling at engineering so I know a bit about it, unlike most of the Senate, I’m sure you saw my ship after all,” Ori smiled gently.

“Dabbling is right,” Myra shot back waspishly, ignoring the horrified looks she got from her colleagues. “For all the good idea you did a scrapyarder’s implementation. Just taking parts from other ships and plugging them into your own while praying to the Force it holds together does not make you a qualified engineer!”

“Oh, I agree completely,” Ori’s smile transformed into something closer to what you would see on a shark just before it bit down. “But that’s the galactic standard for amateur engineering. So, with that in mind, and in the interest of making my life easier, I had a bit of an idea for you all. You see the issue is the components, you have a brand-new environmental system, a new weapon fit and power grid, new engines, and worst of all from an amateur prospective a new hyper matter reactor.”

“Of course, we do!” Reginal sounded offended. “Nothing else would allow us to meet the specs we were given!”

“So, what you need is for those components to be recognized galaxy wide as the top of the line,” Ori set the bait. He wanted to pursue just where those specs had come from but the Force was being very clear that he wouldn’t get anywhere asking about it.

“And how are we to do that? The Acclamator is a proprietary project for the Republic, we can’t sell any of them to other customers for at least a decade, probably longer…” Myra grumped out in support of her boss.

“Exactly,” Ori strode to the center of the room and made his way to what looked like a holo projector. “If I may?”

“And what brilliant brain storm do you have to show us?” Reginal asked with a raised eyebrow.

“This.” Ori stuck a chip into the holo projector and his rough sketch came to life, only it wasn’t just a rough sketch of a ship. There were detailed blueprint stage parts of it, mostly the systems he had named and the hanger bays. “As you can see, this is just a reuse of your already developed components in a smaller package, one that can directly compete with the Dreadnought for the growing Mid Rim market. Now you would need to get the rest of the ship completed, but by the time the Acclamator is revealed to the Senate at large rather than the select committee on judicial procurement, I’m sure you can have this or something very like it be one of the most popular military vessels in the Mid Rim…”

Ori knew Naboo had been a wake-up call to the Mid Rim, making them realize that they were on their own if a hostile power came knocking. That their defences based on fighters just wasn’t enough. Naboo had the almost peerless N-1 as a strike fighter, making its defence forces better then anything else in that region of space, and they had still lost against the Trade Federation. Unlike the Outer Rim, where not having a strong military was an invitation to be raided, the Mid Rim had long relied on a combination of the Judicial forces, Outer Rim security services, and the occasional Core based defence force punitive expedition to keep their planets free of conflict. With just enough striking power kept locally to give the other forces time to respond when they yelled for help.

The way the Republic’s military was run now was similar to the ideal put forth by the founding fathers of the United States in his last life. A small professional army backed up by a capable militia. That was a system which could work, especially as each planet and sector had their own defence force, but it left the Republics Judicial forces with very little combat power. Especially when you considered just how large their area of operations were. The Mid Rim had just received a brutal wake up call that without combat power of their own the Judicial Force just didn’t have the weight of metal to come running and solve their problems. The politics of the situation meant that no core defence force was likely to back them up with the heavy metal they needed either. 

When the clone wars broke out, things would get worse, everyone would look out for themselves first, the rest of the Republic a distant second. Ori needed to allow the Mid Rim to build their own defence forces to the point where they could be used in offensive operations. If they held the line perhaps then the clone army wouldn’t be needed, and the Senate cared less about dead Mid Rim soldiers then they did about those from the Core. Even better the clones might not end up under the Jedi, instead being put under the command of successful commanders from the Rim.

Ori had spent the last night going over the engineering documents that the project had generated, and a few that had accidentally been included when they were sent over, and had a solution to offer those Mid Rim planets. The standard answer of buying one of the many variations of the Rendelii Dreadnought Heavy Cruiser wouldn’t work for them. The vessel was just too crew intensive. Instead Ori had taken the armament, power plant, and environmental system from the Acclamator project and shoved it onto a rough six-hundred-meter wedge shape, with two hanger bays stolen from what he thought was the Venator project in the bow, creating what looked very much like a Gladiator class light Star Destroyer, or at least what he remembered it looking like. It was hardly a finished design but it would give the team ideas. He was counting on their greed taking it from there.

“It would answer the Senate’s questions. Certainly, having something like this would let us avoid the inconvenience of a full senatorial investigation,” Reginal agreed with wide eyes as he looked over the sketch. Internally his mind was racing, why was the Jedi suggesting this. Sure, it would make RHI’s life easier, as they wouldn’t need to call in any of the KDY internal security teams to manage a senatorial audit and keep their trade secrets secret. He didn’t see how the Jedi were served by keeping RHI in the clear. Unless, maybe, it was an issue of manpower? Everyone knew that the Order had an extremely limited number of operatives and a direct senatorial degree was one of the few things that could get the Order to open a full investigation, one that would consume more than ten Jedis full attention for at least a year. Perhaps that was his answer. “Interesting, I see you included the modular hanger from another project. How did you get your hands on that, if I may ask?”

“I thought it was an idea for turning the Acclamator into a carrier, or at least producing a carrier variant of the hull. After all it was included in the technical data dump you sent over. Considering how well your team has done on the rest of the ship I saw no reason not to include their good work. Especially something like this where you managed to get it up to the detailed blueprint stage,” Ori answered with a shrug. “I thought that with the major components already designed and in production it would take you maybe a year to get this into the testing stages, a year and a half to two in order to bring it to market… at which point the questions about the Acclamator I will need to answer will be substantially reduced.”

“Zack, Derren? You two handled most of the human comfort parts of the Acclamator,” Reginal said firmly stroking his chin. “How much could you reuse and could your teams do it?”

“The troop bays are modular,” an older human answered looking over the projection. “If I may?”

“It’s your equipment,” Ori replied and stepped back. He watched as the two humans advanced on his design and started to slot other completed components into it. It was interesting to watch, and would probably save more than a few months of design time, but he also knew this was just a start. More importantly in his eyes were the words which Reginal had used, human comfort. It seemed that the design team was aware that the Acclamator was meant primarily to have human crews, another data point to bring up with the council.

“Two battalion sized bays would do the trick,” The older human said to his younger companion. “How many of the crew modules would work here Zack?”

“Not as many as I would like.” The now identified Zack moved up to the holo projection and put a couple of clusters of crew quarters into the design. They also looked like they were modular. That was interesting, Ori would have to keep an eye on the Kuat design team when he went there. It seemed that Rothana had come to the conclusion that individual modules were the answer to almost everything, how many would be used on the Venator, and later the Tector class. Perhaps this was how Lira Wessex had completed her Imperial class destroyer as quickly as she had in the future he knew from the films. “We would need to re design the connection points for the interior modules, this design isn’t as linear as the Acclamator… that said… I think it’s very doable.”

“Software?” Reginal was getting excited, even as he tried not to show it. He clearly could see how this would advance his own career. Putting out a ship like this with the market for defensive ships being in such high demand as it was? That could very well land him in the ranks of upper management and his greed was rising.

“Fire control, engineering, and Navigation can all be left alone. The only issue is going to be with the environmental controls but that’s not that big of a project…” and we’re off to the races Ori thought with a mental smirk. Now his idea had the attention of the design team, and they were investing in it. A feeling made him turn and he found himself studying the frowning face of Myra.

“Good enough idea for a hack job,” Myra kept her voice low so as not to be overheard over the babble coming from the other engineers. “Still that can’t be all of the issues you have…”

“No, it’s not,” Ori answered her softly. “This will just make my life a bit easier. If I can say that the tech is proven then there will be less questions. Answering questions before the entire Senate is not something, I look forward too. If I can keep the inevitable interrogation to the select committee on procurement, well that’s a win for me.”

“And all you have to do is convince us to do your work for you,” Myra’s cynicism came through clearly in her reply. Ori wetted his lips and tried to formulate the best response; she clearly knew something more then she had let on but he wasn’t sure how to get it from her. The force decided to take a hand, nudging him back towards his design and away from the questions he wanted to ask her about where the ships were going. He opened his mouth to start back on his original track of questioning but the force just nudged him harder away from that. Silently Ori closed his mouth and tried to think his way through, before simply accepting that it would be a bad idea to ask.

“There are a lot of questions on this project, and you aren’t the only manufacturer we need to audit. Anything that reduces the work load is appreciated. Especially given there are only two of us, where we should have full auditing teams for each of our stops. Unfortunately, the Chancellor wants this to be done quietly, for all that he wants it done right, so we have limited trusted manpower to get the job done.” Ori shrugged as he admitted that. “Frankly I wish we could call in those auditing teams, while I’m confident enough in my own skills there is a lot to do and I’m sure that I’m missing things. Even with what I’ve already seen I really want to take a close look at the committee which came up with the specifications, the bunking specs have been bothering me since I saw them.”

“Agents of the Senate, can’t you just ask about that?” Myra shook her head, clearly dodging the question as she shifted into a verbal attack. “There are times I think you Jedi do more harm than good. You offer the politicians too many short cuts, create too many miracles for them, and so the rest of us end up not doing our jobs as well as we should because we know you will be there to catch us if we stumble.”

“I am well aware of the issues in the Order, thank you very much,” Ori replied sharply. He didn’t want to get into this with her, especially since he agreed with her basic point. Not to mention the annoyance she was radiating at him through the Force. There were times when he was amazed by the way non force sensitives could affect the Force through their emotions, and this was one of them. “You just have to look at where we failed to deliver to see what things would be like without us. Still it would be nice if the politicians would allow the other arms of the government the funds, they need to do their jobs, certainly would mean less work for all of us.”

“Aren’t you worried about how these ships will be manned?” Myra challenged and Ori found himself replying without thought or will.

“That will be another team of investigators, we were only supposed to look at the financials of this project and found ourselves with a bigger job then we thought.” That wasn’t what he had wanted to say, that wasn’t it at all. Ori's thoughts suddenly raced, and for an instant the calmness of the Force seemed to switch off leaving the great and terrible purpose of its designs revealed... and it was familiar, but yet not. As an adult human and twi'lek toddler, Ori had had no comprehension, much less control, over the maddening event that had defined him, but that was then. The calmness rushed back and it was changed into the straitjacket that wrapped around the panic, dragging it and the revelations of the future away to where it would no longer threaten the objectives he'd just accomplished. Ori made his good byes, saying just the right words to encourage the engineers to think further on the project even as the screaming in his mind started to echo, each one louder than the last.

As he walked back to the Serenity, his pace grew quicker. The screaming of that first panic creating new panics and empowering them against the straitjacket of the Force as if his panic had a Force of its own. Ori started taking shortcuts to get back to the Serenity, passing through restricted areas without care or hindrance as he muttered "You do not notice me" under his breath as a mantra, and no one he passed was even startled as he danced unseen around them. The echoes of screaming panic abated as he entered the Serenity's hangar bay, but then the noise in his mind grew louder as the screaming that was still there was joined by shouts of rage, howls of despair, peals of cynical laughter and more besides. An ugly thought broke through and Ori beat back the sudden urge to pull the hangar's cargo crane out of its moorings and chuck it as far as he could. If Starkiller could pull down a Star Destroyer with the Force, he could chuck a crane. Ori sprinted up the gangplank as the hook on the end of the crane started to sway, not stopping until he stood before his fresher mirror, staring into it as the single unifying thought ran through all parts of him, and all parts quailed a bit at having to voice that thought, but they all did, "My will is my own. mywillismyown mYw iL L ismyO wn MY WILL IS MY OWN! MyWillIsMyO..." Ori crumpled bonelessly to the floor.

* * *

  
Ori was not feeling refreshed this morning, if anything he felt beaten down and confused, a condition he couldn’t seem to shake. Sleeping on the ‘fresher floor wasn’t conducive to restful sleep. After his near explosion last night, the last thing he wanted was to let his emotions go. That had been all to close, for him and if he had really lost it for the entire star port, possibly the planet depending on what had been in the docks. He hadn’t, wouldn’t, look that up for his own peace of mind. Before he did anything today, he needed to find his center, and he could already tell that would prove to be… difficult.

  
Ori’s thoughts wandered, to an uncomfortable degree, before he gained a semblance of control by focusing on his need for normalcy. Normally when he woke up it was easy to brush off the cobwebs of sleep and quickly center himself. It wasn’t a sure thing, there had been times when he needed to meditate in order to regain his center but… nothing had ever affected him like last night had, not even his Force binge had left him this discombobulated. Worse still, in his opinion at least, he wasn’t even entirely sure what had happened. He knew he had nearly lost it, but the emotional storm had come from somewhere, and not just being trapped in the Force. Or was it that he wasn’t sure just how he came to be trapped in the force?

  
With that thought in mind Ori made his way down to the cargo hold, and started to run through his lightsaber velocities. Jar’kai, the more complicated the better. Even as he completed the first motion, though, he realized slipping into the velocity’s wasn’t what he had sought, his mind still churned with emotion and unwanted thoughts. He almost snarled in frustration, just barely restraining that impulse. Emotions were the enemy at the moment, he needed to be calm, to be contemplative. It was just that his normal paths to that state didn’t seem to be working. He stopped barely halfway through the second velocity and frowned. This wasn’t doing anything for him, it might be that it was too familiar. Ori was good enough with a saber that he didn’t need to think about running velocities, he didn’t even bother to call on the force when he did so some times. He had thought it was good practice for those times when he became overly emotional, allowing him to find comfort in a familiar routine and bring himself under control, just another little trick which he had figured out.

  
Of course, that wasn’t his only trick. He worried his lip for a moment, before deciding. If the velocities couldn’t hold his attention then he would need to make sure he didn’t allow his mind to wander. Ori deactivated both of his lightsabers and fiddled with them. Turning the intensity up from their training setting to full power. Ori was never careless when he had a weapon in hand, and running the velocities would force his mind to be concentrated on the sabers, lest he lose a limb. Once that was done maybe he would be able to actually think.

  
It didn’t work. Ori got halfway through the opening routine before his attention slipped and his left hand saber got just out of position enough to take the very tip of his boot off. Ori scrambled to deactivate the sabers and just stood in the center of the hold, his breath harsh and panting as he dealt with the excess adrenalin. It had been years since his own stupidity had come this close to hurting him in light saber practice, and the feeling wasn’t one he would ever forget.

  
“Kriff it,” Ori’s voice rang strangely hollow around the empty hold. He couldn’t go with any of his familiar routines, not even the emergency back ups he had thought up in his spare time. This was a kriffing disaster. Ori realized he was going to have to sit and meditate properly, and he couldn’t even use the Jedi style meditations which Skrath had forced him to do recently. This was going to have to be a true 'forceless' meditation session, just him and his own mind, without any external factors. No little short cuts, no cheating by moving, no playing with the Force while his master's back turned, and especially no letting the Force guide him. Ori silently let his shoulders slump, even as he clipped his sabers to his belt. 

  
“This is going to suck, isn’t it?” Ori’s plaintive question was left unanswered. The Force was quiet now, something he was grateful enough not to question. He didn’t think he could deal with the force on top of his own issues. He had always had issues with meditation, both in his last life and in this life, Ori’s mind was too active to easily fall into a contemplative state. Thoughts raced through it, diving off into rabbit holes without consideration or any input from his will, even when he concentrated. Just about the only way he had managed to make it through initiate training had been to play with the Force while meditating, that or perform active meditation where the need to concentrate on his body overwhelmed his thoughts.

  
Ori sank to the floor, in a controlled slump and crossed his legs to get comfortable. He would be here for a while and it would be best if he didn’t come out of this more sore and aching than he already was. Once he had settled, he frowned, as he tried to work through the best ways to calm his emotions and keep his train of thought from derailing. Music would be an easy topic to concentrate on, but he had always mentally linked emotions and memories to songs. It would be all too easy for him to call up the emotional storm that still rumbled threateningly. 

  
Ori ruled out pure thought next. He knew himself well enough to see how futile that path would be. Perhaps food? No, again that was linked to memories of his past life and the emotions he had never directly confronted. Something he was going to have to do sometime in the future, but not now. He was already a mess, throwing that firmly sealed can of worms open would do nothing for him. Ori huffed in frustration as he thought of new methods, memories, and sensations, only to disregard them one at a time. Nothing he could think of would work.

  
Despite his frustration Ori pressed on, presenting new ideas to his mind and then rejecting them. Until finally, finally, a stray thought gave him an idea. Sensation, that might be the key. The reason he found moving meditation so easy was sensation. The closest he had ever come to true meditation in his last life had been while hiking, the feel of his muscles working had always offered a focus to his mind allowing him to clear it. A facet from his last life which had carried over in full, running velocities might take a bit longer but the effect was the same, muscles calling for attention and focusing his mind. Of course, doing so directly had not worked, but the mental exercise might.

  
Thinking hard Ori tried to call up a set of sensations which would calm his emotions and allow him control. He had to deal with that first before he even thought about trying to deal with the Force. Finally, he settled on a memory, much to his surprise it was one from his past life, lying in bed with his cat on his chest. The feel of fur and the cat's soft rumbling purr echoing through his chest was easy to concentrate on to the exclusion of everything else. Each time his brain tried to turn away from the memory he was contemplating a new sensation brought his attention back to it. Claws gently kneading his chest, the rough feel of a cat’s tongue on his nose, and further to the chill of a cool winter day on his skin.

  
Ori wasn’t sure how long he sat there, lost in his own memory, but finally he could think again without feeling like his thoughts were a flock of birds flying through a thunderstorm. Gently, ever so gently, he pushed the memory back and went through the exercises that Skrath had taught him in order to minimize his Force presence. He pulled himself into a smaller and smaller ball, cutting the Forces access to his being, controlling the connection and making it his own. Then, once he felt he had a firm grip on that connection, he deepened his presence in it for a bit and started using that force to construct a barricade between the thoughts and emotions he knew were his and those that were... otherwise. Finally, emotionally calm and away from the influence of the Force, he began to think. Letting slack on the leash he had kept on his mind, allowing it to run free, but ready to pull the leash back in an instant if crane tossing and other, similar thoughts reared their ugly heads.

  
Point the first; the Force was not human, or alien on a contemplative level, it was a vast and unknowable entity. No singular being could comprehend it, it was simply too big. Point the second; he had asked it in an accepted way to accomplish goals, and it had. He had achieved two out of the three goals he had set out to accomplish. The Gladiator... no... Upholder project was beginning, and the engineering team was invested in bringing it to completion. The data that Skrath, and Ori himself to be honest, had wanted was discovered. They knew everything there was to know about the Acclamator and how it had been presented to the engineering team. They had been able to discover guidance which hadn’t been on the initial request for proposal, little things which the Force would amplify into starting points for further investigation.

  
Everything had gone well, right up until he had tried to force his last objective. He had utterly failed to find out where the Acclamators were going to be delivered. Or had he? That was a worthy subject for a follow up investigation in its own right. Had he tried too much? Pushed the Force in too many divergent directions? Was that why he had been slapped down so thoroughly? Or had it been something he had brought into the Force? He had never been one to plan, his preference to keep flexible and change when circumstances changed being a feature of his personality in both lives but… when he had made a plan, spent the time and effort to figure out the most logical path and then attempt to follow it up, he had hated last minute changes to that plan. Was that why he had been controlled away from the final objective?

  
That was a possibility. Ori was well aware that each being’s connection to the Force was intensely personal. You got what you put in when you used the Force. It was established by Master Odan-Urr in his seminal book Meditations that was why the dark side came so easily to most beings. They were putting more of themselves into the Force than a Jedi ever could, he had described it as sacrificing parts of your very being for power. Emotional use of the Force pushed more of a being into the Force than the calm contemplative method of the Jedi. Considering the power of the Force pushing behind his panic assisted flailing last night, Ori could believe that. He might have unknowingly pushed his own attitudes into the Force and then slapped himself down without realising it. That was an unpleasant thought to contemplate.

  
That wasn’t the only possibility. The Force might have pointed him away from wrecking his primary objective when he tried to divert to what in his mind was a secondary objective. He knew where the ships were meant to go after all, so had he subconsciously ordered his priorities with the Gladia... Upholder being the most important? That was another unpleasant possibility to contemplate. Of course, the fault for last night laying squarely on his own shoulders wasn’t the only possibility. In hindsight, Ori had to acknowledge that it was the most likely possibility. He had tried to do too much and been overwhelmed; it was a logical supposition which could fit the facts. Even minor mistakes when you were working with as much power as he had been using yesterday could have vast consequences, and the paranoia Ori had only started trying to tame since becoming a padawan waltzed back into his thoughts, turning them to darker and worse possibilities. 

  
The veil of the dark side was real, and he might have run into it here. After all he was working directly to counter Sidious’s plans. An oblique approach like the Upholder project hadn’t pulled any response, but a direct attack? He didn’t think that his redirection and the subsequent panic had been motivated by the dark side. The Force hadn’t felt any different in emotional content as it had locked him into a course and made sure he kept to it. Then again, his panic attack and the emotions which had been stirred up once the Force had released its grip on him, that could very well have been backlash from the dark side. He had avoided even thinking about poking that particular bear, so he wasn’t sure. Ori just didn’t know enough.

  
But beyond the veil there was the Force itself, and Ori allowed some notes of panic to sound in his contemplations to forestall them all from stampeding back in thinking about the possible will of the Force and how it was both incomprehensible and yet... blunt. Was the Force dedicated to the destruction of this incarnation of the Jedi Order as they had become too corrupt? That was a possibility. Ori had succeeded in his personal project, one that might have been sparked by the Force pointing him in that direction. He had followed its dictates in order to see what there was to see on the second. He could easily be said to have been following the will of the Force there. Discovering the Clones and the Grand Army of the Republic… while beneficial in the long run was a desire motivated by politics. There were other avenues of investigation which were open to follow up that lead, and the Force had been remarkably silent on the subject. Had he pushed too much political influence into his interactions with the Force and been slapped down for it? He knew he hadn’t been following the will of the Force with that avenue of investigation, and maybe that’s why it had been cut off so bluntly. Or it could be that by following up on the clones he would have wrecked his already in motion objectives. Perhaps the Force was prioritizing? If he were better with the Force then he might have been able to thread the needle, fulfilling all of his objectives, but he wasn’t. Could it be that the Jedi as a whole were pushing too much of their own agenda into the Force, annoying it and making them seem corrupt? Was that why the Force had allowed the Order to fall in the movies? Would...

  
That's DEFINITELY enough of that! Ori pulled all the slack out of the leash, slammed on the emergency brakes and let other metaphors of that sort sweep through his mind to put a stop to those thoughts. For all the contemplation Ori had managed all that he could think of was that he couldn’t allow himself to use the Force at the moment. Even if he were perfectly calm at the moment, just the possibility that he had run into the veil of the dark side or something worse meant he needed to minimize his Force use here. If he had created his own punishment inadvertently or if it had been inflicted on him by the Force or Sidious didn’t matter at the moment. He couldn’t allow himself to trust the Force until he knew for certain and that couldn’t be accomplished here, or in the time he had. The investigation was still ongoing and he didn’t have the time to fully sort out his mind. He had made a start on that, but it wasn’t complete.

  
“Meditating? I never thought I would see the day Ori’Daki willingly sat in contemplation without being prompted,” Skraths voice interrupted his building cycle of self-recriminations. Ori opened his eyes and gave his master an annoyed look.

  
“You hate contemplation, don’t give me that look,” Skrath continued, watching his Padawan closely. Now that Ori was up and moving again, he could see that last night something had affected him deeply. “That said you look like poodoo, and I felt your panic, briefly, last night. Are you okay to continue?”

  
“I…” Ori wanted to say yes, to deny his distress and charge forward. Unfortunately, that would be a terrible idea. He wasn’t sure of himself at the moment. “Do not know.”

  
“Dangerous,” Skrath commented taking in his Padawans appearance. Ori looked like he hadn’t slept, the flesh surrounding his eyes had deepened in colour to a purple in sharp contrast to his normal teal flesh tone. If he hadn’t known better then Skrath would have thought his padawan had been without sleep for at least a week. “You have a meeting with Mistress Kuat this evening, just under seven hours away, do you want to put it off?”

  
“No,” Ori answered swiftly. He could handle that easily enough, even if her prejudices would rub him the wrong way. He had already planned to keep the Force to himself when interacting with her so his confusion and unwillingness to use the Force wasn’t an obstacle to doing his job in this instance. “I do not want to deepen her prejudices, or validate them. Best to deal with her head on and get it over with.”

  
“Are you completely sure?” Skrath raised an eyebrow. He disapproved of his padawans chosen course of action, Ori was obviously too shaken up in his eyes. Worse still his padawan was doing something to the Force, it almost felt like he was blocking it. A gentle probe against the phenomenon made Skrath pull back in shock, it felt wrong not in a dark side manner but more unsettling and unnatural. Skrath hadn’t thought that possible. “I could handle the meeting myself while you pull yourself together. You have made a good start but I can still feel your distress, even with you pulling your Force presence back beyond what is healthy.”

  
“Again, that would play right into her prejudices and validate them,” Ori replied with a shake of his head. He began to rise only to sink back onto his ass. It seemed his legs had fallen asleep during his long meditation session. He started to rub them, welcoming the pins an needles sensation as it grounded him in the here and now. “Her unthinking dismissal of non-humans and their contributions to the Republic is dangerous, we cannot allow ourselves to feed into that.”

  
“Agreed,” Skrath pursed his lips to argue and then changed his mind. Ori could be as stubborn as any of the council masters once his mind was set on a course of action. Ori also had a rebellious streak which would encourage him to go behind Skrath’s back if he thought what he was doing was right. Given his already out of sorts state Skrath didn’t need the Force to tell him simply forbidding his Padawan from attending the meeting and expecting obedience of any kind was a bad idea. Still he had to be sure that Ori would be able to do this. “That said you don’t just look like poodoo, you feel conflicted and confused even with you pushing the Force away from you as if it is an anathema to your very being. Can you really do this? Face feeling her contempt and hatred without responding?”

  
“That would have been difficult even if I were in the best possible mental state. As it stands now, I have every reason of my own to keep the Force out of it, and that will be an advantage when dealing with her. I can do it; it will just be even less enjoyable then I thought it would be to begin with.”

  
“I will accept your decision, but I have conditions. First, you will brief me in four hours on the specifics of your main talking points, so that no matter who attends it will be a fruitful meeting. Second; If you aren’t there an hour before you leave the ship, I am going to stop you.” Skrath decided. “I don’t just mean conflicted, but also if you are too emotional. A Jedi might have to push through their confusion and mental anguish at times but you do not need to now. If you are too out of sorts and in danger of hurting yourself or others, I will stop you before you take the first steps down that road.”

  
“That makes more sense then I would like.” Ori finally got himself standing and shook out his legs one at a time. “Still in the long run my confusion should be good for me. If I can learn here how to deal with being in this state then when I am called to do so when it matters then it will be easier.”

  
“No Ori, it won’t,” Skrath expressed his disapproval clearly. “You are planning on not using the Force, on keeping supressed for your own reasons. You are going to have to stop suppressing the Force the way you are before I let you leave. It’s giving me pins and needles from here, I don’t even want to think about how it would feel to a non-Force sensitive. But, far more then that practicality, is that this is not a lesson I want you to learn. Perhaps the mindset will be useful in time, but the actions you are planning to take are not the correct way. Given the way you learn it is possible that I am wrong, and that is why I am even considering allowing you to do this, but I want you to know that this is not the way. You are making a mistake here, and I am only allowing you to make this mistake because its safe enough to learn from.”

  
Skrath felt the unnerving, twisted, absence of the Force abate, noting his Padawans blush almost as an afterthought as his own equilibrium returned. Whatever Ori had done had possibilities as a future combat technique, but it was deeply unpleasant to be around. If this was the sort of thing that his Padawan came up with while hiding his ‘frivolous’ playing with the Force Skrath would need to encourage him to ‘play’ out in the open where he could keep an eye on him. All Padawans played with the Force, much to their masters disapproval, and it was a rite of passage to come up with a little trick or technique which would benefit them, and the order, in the long run. Ori on the other hand had come up with what looked an awful lot like a combat technique right out of the gate. 

  
“Possible,” Ori replied with a shake of his head. “I can even agree that this could very well be a mistake, my own mind is too conflicted for me to give you a solid opinion, but I think using the Force here would be a greater mistake. I am still not centered, and that would be even more dangerous then just supressing my connection to the Force. Even my attempts to center myself feel muddled and off, I’m not sure if it’s what I did to myself last night by going too deep into the Force or if there is an aspect of the Force which is off here on planet.”

  
“That…” Skrath started and then stopped. Now was not the time to have that discussion with his padawan. He had felt that the Force was off here, but he hadn’t realised his padawan had also felt it. “Is a discussion we will be having later. For the moment, get ready, and for Forces sake keep your emotional control, don’t let your emotions control you no matter what Mistress Kuat says or feels.”

  
“I will try,” Ori replied as he began to leave the hold.

“Do or do not, there is no try,” Skrath replied severely.

“Then I choose to do.”

* * *

Yennefer Kuat was a nobles noble, and before her unfortunate incident at one of the most popular nightclubs on Kuat had been a rising star in the KDY management team. Unfortunately, despite her impeccable breeding, and powerful family connections, the scandal she had created meant she had been banished to Rothana. The official reason was to oversee a project for her family, but everyone on Kuat knew the truth. Worst of all her sideways promotion meant that she was out of the running to control her family’s corporation, something which burned her daily. She should have been on track to manage one of the major sections of the ring within the decade, at the very least, if not having risen to the rank of vice president for the entire corporation. A bit too much too drink and some unfortunate comments to the alien scum who had dared interrupt her relaxation on camera had ended that though. Damn publicity flacks and their power with the upper management. Now she would need to fight to reach even a proper middle management position at KDY, although… there were some interesting opportunities here at RHI. Being out of sight did have some advantages.

“Your report, junior auditor?” Yennefer refused to use the meaningless Jedi title of Padawan, preferring to remind him of his station. It would have been proper to deal with Knight Kri; this blue whelp in front of her was clearly hung over, unacceptable, and yet because of the power of his organization she was forced to grit her teeth and bear Skrath’s insult without comment.

“The reports from the engineering team check out, and we have the confirmation reports taken from the rescue vessels which were along for the initial trials on the Acclamator. The secondary trials you engaged in are also on chip and ready for the Senate’s perusal at their convenience. It should be enough to convince the procurement subcommittee, but there might be problems when it is released to the general senate.” Ori replied, ignoring the churning hatred and derision in front of him as best he could, clamping down hard on his connection to the Force yet again. He had allowed his concentration to lapse, and the feelings she was projecting were hardly subtle. This was his first time personally dealing with a high noble from one of the core systems and he had already decided that if he could avoid it then interacting with that set would not be happening. Every time one or more of the Republic's high nobles had visited the Temple, their contempt for ‘aliens’ had been a beacon in the Force, even as they were polite to the masters they were interacting with.

“I have been hearing about 'your' suggestion there yesterday,” Yennefer grinned slightly as she contemplated the amount of power she was set claw back if the suggestion could be implemented. “For some reason my engineering team seems to have been working themselves too hard after you had a couple of words with them. What exactly did you say, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I just pointed out that they would be in line for a bonus should the vessel prove to be viable, and that they had already done something like seventy percent of the work,” Ori replied with a shrug. He was hoping to keep this short so he didn’t have to endure this woman for a moment longer than necessary. She was wearing at his already frayed control, and it didn’t help that without active suppression, his control over his own connection to the Force kept slipping so he was feeling flashes of something no matter what he did. He would have put this meeting off longer, but it had been scheduled a week ago. This was his duty and hiding in the Serenity was unacceptable, no matter what Skrath thought. Despite the pain of standing in front of this aristocrat, being here gave him a sense of accomplishment and structure, one he badly needed at this point in time. With his thoughts and emotions so chaotic still, Ori feared he would need structure for some time to come.

“I see the Jedi have kept to a proper standard of education,” Yennefer commented dryly. It was good to see that the loss of so many good Jedi during the Potentium debacle a century ago had not completely crippled the Jedi. Such a pity that the order had not bowed to the wisdom of the nobility there, it would have made the Order so much more effective. Still, manners should have prevailed. They had sent one of their lapdog aliens to her instead of a respectable master. It was clear that the welp in front of her wasn’t the one who had put the initial proposal together, he was just the one who had delivered it. “The rest of the audit?”

“Surprisingly clean, just two trouble spots,” Ori replied promptly. Internally grinning as he realized that he actually had something on her. Her pride was fully engaged in the Acclamator project and any defect he found would be taken personally.

“Trouble spots? Where?” Yennefer narrowed her eyes at the auditor.

“Your third shift materials transfer supervisor seems to be receiving a larger salary then I could account for. You might want to have an expert look over and check the loads he was accepting. While all of the materials he accepted that were tested during other shifts checked out, but you might want to re test what he accepted and see just why he’s getting such a large pay check.” Ori easily pointed out the first issue he had found. He had been very surprised at how ruthless Yennefer had been about stamping out even minor political corruption in this project. He could name more than three hundred beings who had been summarily dismissed just for the suspicion of graft or bribe solicitation. Then again, her pay was directly tied to how this project performed so she had good reason to keep the corrupt out.

“Yan…” Yennefer let out a sigh. “I know where he’s getting his money and it’s not a problem, at least not for us.”

“Oh?” Ori invited comment but Yennefer refused to be baited. She was hardly going to tell this outsider that Yan was one of her internal security people, charged with taking any bribes that came his way and then reporting them. Considering what she had read about how the Jedi operated, Kri might choose to get shirty about such entrapment. Of course, he could belong to one of the more grounded strains of thought which ran through the Order, but she doubted it. Sensible beings didn’t raise scum from Ryloth as high as this one had been raised. Knight Kri was undoubtedly one of those fuzzy headed dreamers.

“I find myself surprised that you two found him,” Yennefer chose to respond with. Her tone clearly implying that Ori was too ignorant to have made the connection himself, asking with the same tone just how they had discovered Yan.

“The Order offers some rather impressive training,” Ori simply stated blandly before moving on. It was clear to him he would not be getting anything from her over that particular issue. “The second major issue I found relates to how you award the commissary contracts. It seems that someone in your accounting department is taking at least a minor kick back. Three times over the course of the Acclamator project, commissary contracts have been abruptly terminated with the contractor replaced, and after each time there have been a flood of complaints from the workers. It might be a security issue, but considering at least one of the vendors in question was awarded another contract which was listed as an Acclamator project dependency on the internal paperwork soon afterwards I doubt it. I don't have access to the personnel financials of your accounting department, but they certainly were the ones who authorized the switches so…”

“That I’m going to have to get security on,” Yennefer nearly snarled. She hated that this scum had found a defect in her organization, or at least been allowed to know about it, and from what she was hearing it was a legitimate one which her own auditing team had missed. There were going to be consequences for this, especially since she had been embarrassed in front of this strung out blue whelp. “I presume the data will be available to my own internal auditing team?”

“Of course, as an Officer of the Judiciary I would be happy to lend my expertise to your auditing team should they need it.” Ori set his barb with precision, noting just how stiff and angry Yennefer got. The Kuat Noble would likely never forgive him for this, but he couldn’t help but take the opportunity to needle her. He would have taken it further, but his exhaustion was weighing him down. Even with his formidable will he was barely keeping sleep at bay, passing out was not sleep, as last night had proved. It didn’t even occur to him how bad an idea it was to further irritate a woman who was in such a position of power, especially when his own efforts were going to increase her power base.

“I’m sure that will not be necessary,” Yennefer’s nostrils expanded like a bull and her tone went downright arctic. Ori would have known he had scored a hit from that alone, had her emotions not battered their way into his head, setting his teeth on edge. He fought down the fight or flight urge, letting nothing of his inner turmoil show on his face. His emotional turmoil has struck again, this time worse than it had been since he woke up. It would be best to get out of here before he started doing…things.

“The remainder of the issues I found were minor, probably misfiled paperwork and the like. All of the instances were for values of under a thousand credits. Nothing to be concerned about on a project of this magnitude.”

“I would still like my team to have a list of the inconsistencies you found,” Yennefer replied, her tone still icy. “I have found it best if small problems are handled promptly so they do not turn into larger problems down the road.”

“Naturally,” Ori replied with a blinding smile and rose to exit her office as fast as was politely possible. “I will have the data couriered over to your auditing office by the end of the day. To whom should I address it?”

“Marco Slaavik, he is the head auditor, with a second copy to myself,” Yennefer rose and gave the infuriating alien a slight bow, which he returned promptly before exiting her domain. As soon as the door had finished closing, she engaged the privacy field and spent the next three minutes cursing the incompetents in her auditing department. Getting herself under control was a bit of a chore, but worth it. It wouldn’t do to appear anything less than completely put together when she headed down to her team. She would need all of her hard-won patience to keep from physically attacking them when she verbally ripped their heads off for allowing her to be embarrassed in this way. If there was corruption it should have been found by her auditing team or hidden better, not exposed to her and the Judiciary by some two-bit Jedi and his alien scum apprentice.

“Reginal I know that this new project of yours offers some exciting possibilities but I do not understand just why you have thrown yourself into it to the exclusion of everything else,” Yennifer’s voice was made up of the frozen tundra of Hoth. Reginal was a good enough subordinate, but there were times she needed to yank his leash in order to keep him on task. Otherwise she would be faced with reading through an entire project's communication when it was finished, out of context notes and paper napkin sketches included. She needed to be able to head off any of his wild ideas before they metastasized into monsters.

“Because…” Reginal’s face took on a stubborn mask for a moment before he broke in the face of his superior’s disapproval. He was well aware that she could kill the project with just a few words and that the paperwork he had been sending to her office was just a bit light. “It costs us next to nothing to do the back end work we need to do. The team is already assembled and unless you have another project to direct us to, we are simply waiting. I know that’s not the most efficient use of resources, and this gives us a chance to use what we have rather than let that expertise sit around doing nothing but costing us credits.”

“I am well aware of those costs,” Yennifer answered sharply noting that Reginal had yet to answer her original question. “That hardly explains your new mania.”

“I had a talk with Lester after the Jedi had brought up the project…” Reginal almost flinched back from the increased disapproval which Yennifer radiated.

“And what exactly did Lester have to say which motivated you?”

“That the Jedi were the Senates hammer,” Reginal answered gingerly. He wasn’t willing to go against Mistress Kuat when she was in high dudgeon like this. “That if there is a problem that cannot be solved by the regular forces then the Senate dispatches a Jedi to solve it with extreme prejudice.”

“You repeat what is already known to me,” Yennifer’s voice contained a very clear suggestion that Reginal should stop wasting her time..

“As you say, but they are a limited resource, and they know that,” Reginal found himself growing more confident as he saw he'd struck a chord with that logic, and laid out his case. “If they are suggesting that the Republic needs to upgrade its already existent forces, and they are the best trouble shooters that the Senate has access too, what does that tell you about the state of the galaxy at this point in time?”

“I hadn’t thought about it like that,” Yennifer leaned back in her chair and pondered the implications of what Reginal was saying. Even as she did so her mind was racing to consider just what implications Reginal had missed. Unlike herself, he did not have access to one of the best spy nets in the galaxy, nor was he allowed to read the reports which were regularly sent to her as a member of the Kuat Family. She had known that the Republic was in for a time of unrest, the Naboo crisis only being the first undeniable symptom, but everything she had access to indicated that existing, or building, forces should be able to contain the various flare ups across the galaxy. Now she had just been provided an interesting bit of data from an organization which had a much better spy net. The Jedi must believe that they, and the multiple projects that were being completed even as she was having this conversation, were insufficient to meet the needs of the Senate at this time. It was the only logical reason for them to push for a ship which was designed to replace the 'venerable' Dreadnought in the hands of system defense forces across the galaxy. They obviously thought that such a ship would be needed, and that was a can of worms she didn’t want to contemplate. Considering that corporate intelligence had ferreted out just how many projects the Senate had recently launched, and which the Jedi were obviously aware of from their presence here, the Republic must be in for an even rougher time then she had thought. She needed to be cautious though, for despite the opportunities such a disruption might offer to industrialists such as her, the tidal wave of unrest could just as easily sweep over her as much as anyone else. Yennifer’s family was not the first to bare bear the Kuat name, they had seized it from another family centuries ago and made it their own. Should the galaxy experience a sudden disruption, then there was the very real possibility that another family from the upper crust of Kuat could very well do the same to them. She pursed her lips and tried to work through the pitfalls, before realizing the most obvious pitfall of indecision and inaction. 

The opportunity here was real, and enormous, but only if she and the rest of her family acted on the unexpected knowledge which had been dropped into her lap. They were already preparing for the disruption that the Senate worried about after all, the few extra precautions tied to a project like this were not that onerous. Her own actions might be secondary, but… Yennifer found herself grinning as she contemplated the possibilities. Her family would naturally need to remain on top of Kuat in order for their system to prosper, but who said that it needed to be the current branch of the family which bore the title Kuat of Kuats. She just needed to keep her mouth shut for the moment and make her own plans. Clawing back what little power she had before her fall from grace was nothing compared to the power she could taste, just waiting for her to reach out and claim it.

“I want you to proceed with all haste,” Yennifer said slowly as she mentally plotted out the moves she would need to make in order to get back into a position of power on Kuat. One successful project would not be enough to end her exile, but two? Especially one which proved to be a far-sighted response to a threat her own family hadn’t seen coming? That could very well put her in a very solid position on the mother world. “Be thorough when you do the design. Don’t just take the initial documents' suppositions as facts, but actually look and check its assumptions so you don’t accidentally cripple the design. Remember the design studies about how the Dreadnought was crippled, despite its success for Rendellii. I do not want to have a similarly flawed project on my hands when you are done. Also, does it have a designation?”

“The project is currently going under the name of Gladiator, a Rothana series Gladiator class 'Light Destroyer,'” Reginal answered swiftly.

“Light destroyer?” Yennifer almost cracked up as she heard the designation. It sounded like the basic concept was for a customs frigate or the like. Perfect for throwing off anyone who wanted to sniff around the project for its purpose. No one would expect a heavy cruiser to be labelled using such an archaic designation for a frigate, and if they did then they would think it was just obfuscation in order to hide what they were seeking to build. After all, frigates and the like were Rothana's bread and butter, space side at least, the Acclamator was the largest ship that they had ever designed and built. The Acclamator itself being another way to throw off suspicion, and best of all it was one she could use on her own family without fear. Clearly this was the work of one of the more politically aware Jedi. Skrath and his teal skinned flunky manifestly didn’t have the savvy or brains for such a maneuver, but whomever was pulling their strings did. She would have to see if intelligence could put a name in front of her, better to deal with the puppet master then the puppets if she didn’t want to end up on the end of his or her string. “I rather like the concept. Why Gladiator though?”

“I don’t know… it’s what the original file was labelled as when the Jedi dropped it on us,” Reginal shrugged as he admitted that. “I didn’t feel the need to change the name until we had officially begun working on it as a Rothana project rather than a blueprint and paper study.”

“Don’t... change the designation that is,” Yennifer grinned as she saw what the Jedi behind this was doing. They had seen a need and were doing everything in their power to allow the project to go forward without any outside interference. It was nice when such a powerful organization went out of their way to clear your path, and it certainly made life easier for her. “I believe it would be best if we did proceed with this project, if nothing else it will keep home office from raiding my team now that our project is completed. Blissex has certainly been vocal enough about her want for Myra from your team. That said I believe that marketing will have our heads if we use the name Gladiator, too militant, it would sound like we were marketing to pirates and their ilk.”

“Of course, she is,” Reginal scowled as he said that. “That bitch wants everyone who has even the slightest scrap of talent working under her so she can steal the credit for their ideas. Now she is on her own and without her father to leach off of her reputation has been decreasing. Myra is exactly her preferred target too: young, naively cynical, and not knowledgeable enough about politics to avoid the knife which is destined for her back. As for the name… Lineholder?”

“Tell me how you really feel,” Yennifer's eyes rolled a bit at the drama, she had known Reginal had issues with the outsider who had been brought in by KDY before his exile here, but she hadn’t known it had been so personal for him. Still, she would need to keep him in mind when she moved back home. It was always a good idea to have a competent engineer on tap to double check the work which came out of such wonderkids as Wessex. They might produce results, but all too often they tended to sell you a bill of goods unless you checked them carefully. “Even so, keeping your team intact is a goal we should strive for. This project just gives us the cover we need to do that without home office asking any awkward questions. Lineholder is too pedestrian… we need something evocative before we even bring it to the marketing department.” 

“Do we really need to have an evocative name for the paper study?” Reginal couldn't keep the whine from his voice. He really hated dealing with marketing, they kept telling him why his ideas wouldn’t be accepted even after he got them to work.

“Of course, we do,” Yennifer snorted at her engineer’s reluctance. It figured that he missed the importance of doing his paperwork properly. “Once a project like this one is finished the materials requisition files go to the low security archives. You know how other shipbuilders dig through those for advantage. We need to make it look like this was a thought out concept from the moment when an engineer laid pen to paper, that we had a unified concept from the get go or your team is going to end up being the target of every corporate head hunter in the galaxy, not just the ones on Kuat.”

“Kriff… I hate this publicity shavit,” Reginal cursed.

“Language, you are not a barbarian outlander.” Yennifer interjected sharply, but when no censure followed he continued, “Go with the concept, it’s an asset to upholding the stability of a system. A defensive threat… something to show off the power of a system. Perhaps Defender?”

Yennifer turned Reginal’s suggestions over in her head and thought about them. “Not Defender, the home office would know what we are doing the second that name crossed their desks. They tend to be a bit defensive about where the heavy metal is actually made, after all the ring cannot be allowed to spawn its own competition. Also, even if they somehow miss it, the name is ripe for ridicule the moment some 'Defenders' are either defeated or used offensively. Yennifer pondered out loud since Reginal wasn't coming up with anything. "Hmmm... maybe... Upholder? Yes, Upholder, now that has possibilities. It even sounds like a frigate, upholding a systems sovereignty and all that feel good rot.”

“You think we can hide this?” Reginal asked his eyes widening in shock.

“Long enough to get a finished product to market.” Yennifer answered confidently. “The Jedi have given us a reason to keep the team together, but I doubt it was solely for our benefit. If I had to guess, they think that the Acclamator will need to be tweaked once it is in service, handing us a minor project to enhance our standing while pushing back against the dangers that the Republic faces seems to be a very Jedi like move to me. They never take an action with just one purpose in mind. Everything they do, at least according to what I have read, is meant to have multiple meanings, and cover multiple axis. That, beyond any obscure power they may weild, is the reason the Senate uses them as trouble-shooters.”

“I can understand that,” Reginal frowned as he contemplated Yennifer’s words. “I don’t like dancing to someone else’s tune. Even if it benefits me in the short run, there is always a catch.”

“I’m glad to see you've fully engaged your brain,” Yennifer couldn’t resist needling her subordinate. The implications that he hadn’t thought everything about this project through hung between them like mist in the morning on Kuat. “Still there is profit, and political benefit, to going along with what they want for the moment. Be aware that they do not have your best interest at the heart of their actions, except in the most abstract sense, and do not allow yourself to fall in with them without considering the angles. This project is safe enough, after all they just brought it to our attention that it was possible, and that there was a ready-made market for it, but you must be aware that having done us a favour they, or their Order, will ask for it to be repaid one day.”

“True, but will it matter to us?” Reginal squared his shoulders as he disagreed with his superior. “They did very little after all, not much there to be repaid.”

“Ah, but if this drives you to prominence? How small a favour will it seem then? How much pull will they have once your name is known galaxy wide for such a success as this will be?” Yennifer narrowed her eyes as she explained the realities of the galaxy to the engineer. “The Order is a political entity, and it’s been on top of the Republic since there's been a Republic. Organizations with that much history behind them do not stay on top of the heap without being politically aware and relevant. They might be doing us a small favour now, but fully expect to pay them back from the profits of your hard work building on their initial investment. They might say they work for the benefit of the galaxy, and the Republic, as a whole but never forget that they have kept on top of the political heap. Altruistic people do not wield the kind of power they do, and I’m not talking about their mystical Force, but real tangible political power.”

“I’m an engineer? How much could they hurt me? You are the one who should be worried,” Reginal scoffed. He knew the Jedi could be dangerous but he doubted that they would be a danger to him. His interests were not likely to cause him to come to their attention again.

“Me?” Yennifer raised one perfectly sculpted eyebrow with a look of scorn at Reginal’s naivety. “I might have to burn a few credits on one or more of their feel-good publicity projects, not like I wasn’t already going to have to do that when I make it home, but that will end up benefiting me in the long run no matter how costly it might be in the short term. You on the other hand? Someday a proper Jedi Knight will sidle up to you with a suggestion that cannot be ignored even if it destroys the design you are working on, and should you object he will casually mention that engineers who steal from undergraduates might not want to go against those who know their secrets.”

“Really?” Reginal was skeptical of the scenario and showed it. “How did you come to that conclusion?”

“They sent one of their apprentices here, with an almost insultingly amateur design proposal. One that I know you have seen similar from the engineering interns in your office. They probably had some poor Coruscantii hack put it together to pay for another semester at their second-rate engineering school. Of course, the idea behind it is better than any freshman would think of, so he probably built his proposal to their specifications.” Yennifer decided to indulge Reginal and let him know how the galaxy really worked. “There is no way a being as idiotic as Ori'Daki put in the work to do a study like that.”

“Really? I had a rather favourable impression of him,” Reginal cocked his head to the side and wondered just what he had missed. “He certainly managed the objections of the engineering team easily enough.”

“Naturally he did. If I had to bet this was his final test before the Order as a whole decided his fate. He needed to prove that he could interact with all levels of society and I would say he failed that badly. Coming into my office hung over was a mistake which will probably end up costing him his life,” Yennifer shrugged as she said that. There were a few worthwhile aliens, but they were vanishingly rare and it took too much effort to find them. If you wanted something done right, better to have a human do it, rather than engaging in roulette with the many alien species. Although, perhaps she should spend the time looking for a few of those rough diamonds before she returned to Kuat, it would certainly help her image.

“His life? Really? That sounds like something out of bad holovision,” Reginal couldn’t contain his guff at the sheer absurdity of what his superior had said. “The Jedi are hardly going to have him killed for one mistake.”

“Of course not,” Yennifer rolled her eyes at the very suggestion. “If he had proven to be able to interact with the upper crust here then he would have been set. He would have been sent on diplomatic missions across the galaxy, and we would read about him in the morning faxes. Despite my notoriety, I am from one of the foremost families in the galaxy, but I’m currently in disgrace, any mistakes he made here were safe enough. Because he made those mistakes he is going to be put onto their investigative and intelligence track, and given his species he is going to end up infiltrating criminal gangs. His death will come when he screws up again, or when the order uses his information a bit too freely and he gets made, or heck, considering the nature of his assignments, from some john who turn out to be a serial killer. Criminals aren’t the most forgiving sort, so he’ll end up face down in an alley with a blaster burn through his head.”

“That would be a shame, he had the beginnings of talent, or at least it looked that way to me,” Reginal shook his head, dismissing the visceral image she had conjured up. “Are you sure he won’t end up in a technical field?”

“Of course not,” Yennifer laughed at the very suggestion. “From what my cousin, who worked on the D-6 project, tells me in his letters, the Jedi have an entire division of technically minded beings at their beck and call. They call it something along the lines of the technical core or something similarly asinine. If one of those Jedi had turned up you would have a completed blueprint on your comp, and be tearing your hair out trying to explain to him that the rest of the galaxy doesn’t have the trained reflexes of a Jedi and that the design is completely unworkable.”

“Any suggestions for how I should manage the risk I have accidentally exposed myself to?” Reginal had been struck by the certainty in Yennifer’s voice. He knew she could be a self-assured bitch at times, but she tended to be correct when she started to pontificate.

“Be careful about projects you end up involved in,” Yennifer answered with a shrug. “When an older Jedi, probably human, approaches you, contact security and get their direction on how to handle the request. If it's an alien who makes contact, you can probably deal with whatever they want on your own, unless its one of their token ‘good’ aliens. If it's an alien you’ve heard of again contact security and let them take the lead on how to handle the situation. For now, though… how different can you make the Upholder from the initial idea? Back date a couple of the failed ideas your team comes up with so it looks like you were already looking at using Acclamator designed components for paper studies. I’ll sign off on the data trail modifications, and you know that data security answers to me…”

“If I switch the single laser cannons out for quads that would be a start… The Upholder does have a larger power budget then the Acclamator… cut down on the troop compliment and that gets even higher…” Reginal worked his way through the problem aloud, much to the amusement of Yennifer. “Missiles make sense, they’re a cheap way to increase firepower at short range… the only thing the design is really missing is an ion cannon or two for capture.”

“As you say, I look forward to seeing what your team comes up with…” Yennifer dismissed the now thoroughly engrossed engineer from her office. He was in her pocket for life now, and she had every intention of using that leverage to her advantage. Given his anger at Blissex it wouldn’t surprise her if he could be induced to ripping her projects to pieces, and she could use that against the rest of her family. Now all she needed to do was bring this project home, and she might just be in line for the big chair in a couple of decades.

* * *

  
Surrounded by data pads, Skrath once again wished his talents lay in the more direct Jedi arts. Normally, the Force flowing through him would focus his attention on the boring but important minutia needed to wrap up an investigation and call it well done, but right now it was an echo chamber for his thoughts of hitting the bad guys with his lightsaber. Of course, as Yoda would say; 'Adventure and excitement, a Jedi craves not these things,' but with the difficulties he was presented by the Force and his Padawan, he couldn't hardly call anything about this 'well done.'

Up until Rothana, the investigation had been proceeding well. The data was clear, and easy enough to get to. He had targets to run down, information to dig up, and interviews to arraign arrange. Now though things were getting more complicated. The Force wasn’t acting... right... here, it was difficult to ask the right questions and let the Force guide him to the answers he sought at the best of times, but here and now it was nigh impossible. All his training, experience and exceptional ability to figure out the truth were barely pushing past the resistance that the Force was putting up, and even then he could only come to the most barebones conclusions as, for the first time in his experience, the Force was outright filibustering him on entire lines of inquiry with that echo chamber of daydreams. As bad a time as he was having, however, he knew Ori was suffering much worse, and it hurt to realize that he couldn't help his Padawan while he was barely navigating such strange Force currents himself. Something had happened to his Padawan at his meeting with the Engineering team three days ago that was leading him to using that Force blocking technique, and Skrath huffed with no small amount of frustration at the effort it took to make even that simple conclusion. But as much as the Force was bending around Ori, that bending had strangely helped him see flashes of the root cause of why the Force might be acting the way it was. Skrath's exposure to Ori's Force blocking had left him with a roaring headache for hours afterward, but after it passed he'd sensed the presence of a certain ex Jedi Master, Count Dooku, and certain facts and data points that hadn't made any sense before started making a disturbing amount of sense. Dooku had been here at some point and twisted the Force to divert anyone and everyone away from this project.

The independent use of such skills as Dooku had employed here had been banned by the council in the aftermath of Ruusan, and for very good reasons. Much like Form VII Juyo, just using it put you perilously close to the Dark side, even if you used it with the best of intentions. Twisting and using the Force rather than following its will was all too close to the actions of a Sith. Of course, Dooku wouldn’t care about that, he was arrogant enough to follow his own path and proclaim it to the galaxy with little regards for the aftermath of his actions. In that man’s mind the mental distress he caused to any other Jedi who blundered into this was well worth the concealment he had achieved. Skrath paused in looking over yet another walker technical performance report and frowned.

If Dooku had come here, to one of the lesser sites that he and his Padawan had uncovered, then what were the odds that he had gone to the major sites and repeated his actions? Mentally Skrath weighed what he knew of Dooku, and then decided that it was almost certain. The whys would need to wait, especially given that he didn’t know for sure if this had been on the orders of the Council or the Chancellor, but the effects were clear. Weighing the consequences of leaving the investigation halfway done against the damage that continuing on in the face of such opposition would do to his Padawan... and himself as he silently admitted, Skrath found himself grimacing. He hated to leave things incomplete, but if he stoically pressed onward he suddenly had the dreadful feeling that not only would he fail his duty to Ori, he'd also fail in the investigation. As it was, they were going to have to spend more time at the Temple then he wanted to. Ori would need to regain, or more accurately, if Skrath's suspicions were correct, find his center before they could be used as an investigative team again.

“More walker reports?” Ori asked taking a seat across from his Master. Skrath shook his head in agreement, think of the devil and he will appear he snarked to himself. Skrath's mood perked up at seeing Ori had gotten a full and restful sleep, but his eyes still held a half haunted quality which deeply worried him. “If anyone had told me that investigations would be this boring, I would have tried to find myself on the path of the guardian.”

“You should know better, half of the stuff you got away with at the Temple was only through long and thorough preparation. Did you really think that it would be any different out here in the galaxy?” Skrath replied calmly.

“No, but I did think we would be doing more undercover work,” Ori grimaced as he admitted that. “More sneaking around and finding answers, less sitting around reading old paperwork.”

“Hengh,” Skrath barely restrained his laugh at his Padawans expression. “You do know that the most common cover I’ve used is as an accountant?”

“No…” Ori looked at his Master with an only partially mock horrified expression.

“It’s easy enough for me; everyone needs to have someone watching their money, criminal or not. Given the way I look its best for me to blend into the entourage of powerful beings to find what I want rather than trying to be front and center.” Skrath gestured to his unimpressive form. “Besides, being in the background allows you more options to get your objective done in secret. Those Jedi who take problems head on never find everything, unlike me.”

“Is that why you have an accounting certificate?”

“Of course! Having legitimate credentials makes it much easier for me to be hired on where I want to be,” Skrath replied with a grin. “You are going to have problems though. You are a bit too visually distinctive to follow my path, we are going to have to find you a cover you can use regularly. That is going to be… challenging.”

“I had thought I would end up as a smuggler or the like,” Ori cocked his head to the side in contemplation. The question he wanted to ask clear to Skrath even if it remained unvoiced.

“For some investigations that will do, but even the most successful smugglers or free traders are not brought into the close confidence of the powerful. General criminal investigations will be easy enough for you, especially with your slicing skills, but going after the powerful? You are going to need to find an 'in' you can work before we start you on those types of investigations,” Skrath smiled at his Padawan mildly. Before letting him know that his latest misbehaviour hadn’t gone unnoticed. “Mistress Kuat’s reaction to you should be indicative of just how easy it is for you to go wrong.”

“She’s a specieist bitch,” Ori shot back contemptuously.

"Ori!" Skrath interjected sternly, all humor gone from his voice in an instant as he started speaking in a tone that, while not angry, brooked no argument, "Stop your train of though right now. You're channeling her contempt into a mirror of your own emotions and that is..." and Skrath paused, his own train of thought derailing as he realized, for all the terrible venom in Ori's statement, there was also no Force behind it. Ori held Mistress Kuat in as much contempt as she did him and yet his passion wasn't eliciting any greater response in the Force than their previous banter...

"Master?" Ori's fearful question brought him back to the present and Skrath quickly realized that even though this wasn't the teaching moment on the Dark Side that every Master inevitably had with their Padawan, it was still a teaching moment... for both of us, he though, unsettled.

"That is a dangerous thing to do as an Investigator. Hating your target and holding them in contempt just leads you to underestimating them... both in their capacity for good AND for evil. I speak from experience in being Master Ganjay Tulgree's Padawan when Senator Nyist was brought to justice."

Ori shuddered at that name, Senator Kilan Nyist of Hosnian Prime had been found guilty of a relatively minor kickback scheme, but paid his fine and accepted his censure with such good cheer that Master Tulgree had continued the investigation when everyone else had seen him as an ineffectual political tool who'd sold his influence for next to nothing... until the first child's bones were dug out from underneath his estate manor... "Alright, I... take your point, Master. But how do you NOT hate someone like Nyist?"

"Oh, you do." Skrath read the shock in Ori's eyes. "We're not Consular Jedi who must take the high road in their own minds all of the time, but to dwell on your hatred for one person means you will focus on them to the point of missing others who are doing the same or worse. Dwelling on your hatred for a group means you will be lumping the innocent in with the guilty and creating a mentality that the guilty will see, and be able to use as a shield. Think about how you reacted to Kuat, do you think a woman as smart as her missed it? The next time you have to deal with her she will know exactly how you see her, and no matter what she is doing she will act in a way to conform to your expectations. Now, we have uncovered no evidence that she, or any of her people, have committed a crime. Much to the contrary she has kept her department clean to a degree you very rarely see. If she is being less law-abiding next time you interact with her, or if another Jedi sees your report and acts on that prejudice, she will have an easy time hiding what she thinks needs to be hidden. I'm saying this both as a lesson and a warning. That and… sometimes the only way to refuse the dark side is to remove yourself from the temptation entirely. Master Tulgree took us off the case when the second site was uncovered, as we were both emotionally compromised, but the both of us were in attendance for his execution. It was disturbingly satisfying for me, and Master Tulgree was wise enough to see that. We spent more than half a year after that case back at the Temple meditating so that I could regain my balance."

There was a silence as both Master and Padawan took some time to reorganize their thoughts; it was Skrath who spoke first, answering Ori's question before he voiced it, "It will take me some time to collect the final Investigator and Judicial reports, sift through them and put those I feel useful together in a manner that is instructive rather than just a 'True Crime' story." If there was one Padawan in the galaxy who could gain insight and instruction from such reports without most all of the Force derived context he would have thought necessary to be of much use for a Jedi Investigator, it was Ori.

"Thank you, Master." Ori replied respectfully, realizing the difficulty of the task Skrath had just agreed to. "So... going back to our current audit, and the cluster I made of my meeting with Kuat, what do you want of me? I will go back and apologize if you believe it will help.”

“If the Force wasn't so strange in the here and now, I feel it would have, since she isn’t one to forget an insult or a slight; but it is and so you will be on her mind long after we leave this system because you managed to get under her skin.” Skrath shrugged as he said that. Mentally he noted that his Padawan was again showing signs of prescience as there was a reaction in the Force before Ori nodded in agreement. This would need to be dealt with at the Temple as Skrath himself had no talent for those arts and the youngling / Padawan required reading for such arts consisted of a pamphlet that might as well have been titled 'Signs to tell if you might be prescient: Hint, you aren't'. “You proved to be more competent then she had thought, and then went and found something her own internal teams had missed. It may be misguided but she regards that as an embarrassment, and that is not something any Noble will easily forgive.” 

“It wasn’t that hard to do,” Ori rolled his eyes. “X-RAD just had to crunch the numbers…”

“Well yes, but you exposed faults in her internal security,” Skrath sighed and ran his hand through his hair in a gesture of exasperation as Ori's contempt for Kuat crept back in. “It might have been easy for you to do but you managed to get your hands on one of the most ridiculously good accounting droids I have ever heard of. I had thought that you paid too much at first but… XRAD has been so useful that I might recommend to the Council we invest in them for general deployment at least among those Jedi who do auditing jobs. Or at least have a stock of them available at the temple. Though why you chose that ridiculous designation I have no idea.”

“Republic Auditing Droid is ridiculous? I rather thought it was on point?”

“Oh yes, lets broadcast its function to the galaxy at large,” Skrath replied. “It’s not like it’s a small droid which can be easily destroyed or stolen now is it?”

“Easy to defend as well.”

“True…” Skrath paused and considered just how to approach presenting his decision. With the Force being uncooperative they were not going to get much further in their audit. They could press on but, he was well aware of his own limitations. Whatever Dooku had done here was severely hampering him, and he knew that his Padawan would need time back at the Temple after this. Ori wasn’t one to ask for help, if he could help it, but he clearly needed it. “I think it best if we head back to the Temple, soon. While we have accomplished more than I thought we would when I took this mission, it has become much more complicated then I could anticipate. You need time to clear your head, and I need to alert the council about what is going on.”

“Much as I want to disagree with you…” Ori grimaced and looked down, hiding his shamed expression. “That would be the wisest course of action. I don’t like leaving this early though, there are issues with the LAAT program which need to be addressed… and I know you noticed the AT-TE’s exposed gunner.”

“Agreed,” Skrath went with the bluntest possible path here. “While the technical faults of the project are a concern, there might be a larger issue here. Huge portions of the project could be in direct violation of the Ruusan laws, and the Order needs to get a handle on that before it blows up in everyone’s face.”

"Is it really that bad though?" Ori chewed his lip and tried to work out just where his master was going with this. If he was remembering his own reading of Ruusan correctly, then none of the ships they had seen so far violated it. At least on a technical level. “Aside from their existence, they kept to the turbolaser restrictions. Admittedly the Republic having a navy at all is a violation but…”

“You think it’s a needed one,” Skrath put in mildly. “You may be correct but this could cause a political firestorm when it gets out. Ruusan is the foundational set of documents on which the legitimacy of the Republic rests and the naval restrictions have stood unchanged since it was ratified over a thousand years ago. "If the violations are as bad as I suspect they are, whoever commissioned this project is either making an end run around those restrictions or attempting to set off a political firestorm under Palpatine's administration that would make Valorum's fall from grace look like a camp fire."

“There isn’t much we can do about that. Chancellor Palpatine won't be caught flat footed by our discovery though, he will have an answer for the Senate already prepared.” Ori spoke slowly, his gaze distant for a split second. “Would getting ahead of the release do anything for the Order? At least let us avoid some of the fallout.”

“We will need to,” Skrath nodded in agreement. He was pleased to see his Padawan was finally looking at the bigger picture. Ori had been bogged down in the details of their investigation, and he had missed the forest while checking on the health of the trees. His assessment of Palpatine was interesting as well. Something to be explored at a later date though. “We'll have to present our information to the Council. You wouldn't know him aside from his celebrity, but I've felt the presence of the ex Jedi Count Dooku both on world and specific to this project, which concerns me since he was a Council member.”

“He did something to the Force,” Ori looked up, suddenly very intent. It was interesting that he hadn't missed the cause of the disruption in the Force. even though he didn’t know the count and so he would not have been familiar with his Force signature the way Skrath was. “that is something that needs to be looked into.”

“Is that your intuition speaking, or something else?” Skrath leaned forward to see how Ori would respond.

“I think its my intuition,” Ori spoke slowly, obviously picking his words with care. “Something about the man bothers me though. Every time I've heard his name spoken I get a shiver down my lekku, and that is not natural.”

“More reason to head back to the Temple then…” Skrath noted the jump in Ori’s lekku. Something about what he had just said had hit his Padawan's defensive instincts, and he put up his hand in a placating gesture. “Calm, Ori, we'll work things out, you need to regain your center. Being out here was good for you, but as soon as we hit this system? You have been having problems far beyond what a Padawan should have. Considering your progress before now… It’s both not your fault and nothing getting away from here and back to the safety of the Temple can't fix.”

“Doesn’t mean I have to like it,” Ori stated flatly, visions of Philip K Dick's Minority Report dancing in his head, ratcheting up his paranoia. Being known as precognitive probably wouldn’t have him end up as a future crime asset, but this galaxy wasn’t a nice place to live. Given that Star Wars had been just as fictional to him before his rebirth he REALLY didn’t want to find out the hard way that Dick had also been right. Ori really didn’t want to end up with any shred of a reputation for that ability. He doubted that any of the Masters on the Council would take his memories of the movies seriously, they were just too different from the recorded visions he had access to in the archives. Too clear and concise, lacking all of the symbolic elements which were a hallmark of precognition as he understood it. He'd toyed with the notion of faking some vague Nostradamus style 'vision' for the first few years after the Event before discarding that idea since it wasn't like the Council had taken The Chosen One himself's visions seriously. But now he knew he wasn’t capable of lying to Skrath, omitting things was fine but directly lying? Not happening. Trying that with the council masters, could have consequences he didn't want to face. As it stood it was more likely that they would think he was making everything up, and then over react if his memories were proven to be correct. If he was proven to have clear visions of the future... precrime became a very real possibility. Which one would play Director Burgess though? Ori thought darkly. On top of that issue was the Temple's complete lack of data security, any copy of his memories getting out would just cause Palpatine to change his plans the moment he heard about them. Ori gave it all of two minutes between his report being on the intranet and Palpatine getting a copy, if it lasted that long. “You are right, I just don’t like it.”

“You aren’t going to be sent to the Agricorp,” Skrath rolled his eyes at his Padawan's jump in paranoia. He barely needed to touch the Force to feel that, Ori was broadcasting so loudly. He really needed to do something to boost his Padawan's self-confidence if THIS was his reaction to a setback. “I think once we get out of this system you are going to be fine. On the way back to the Temple I'll get you back to work on your force concealment. There are holes in the way you use it which concern me.”

“Holes?” Ori’s expression switched to a mass of confusion, but his paranoia didn’t abate in the Force.

“I don’t know how else to describe what’s happening when you use it. Going too far and leaving no force signature is a standard amateur mistake, one which you make, but when you are locking down your signature… you leave parts of yourself out. That is what worries me. You forget your lekku, leaving them visible in the Force until you have suppressed the rest of your signature, and then scramble to get them locked down. It’s an issue that’s pretty consistent too. You do the same thing when you are engaged in active meditation, doing handstands and the like, you always remember at the last minute to hold them up with the Force but…” Skrath sighed heavily. “You also need to learn to control yourself when you immerse yourself in the Force. You did a good job letting the Force guide you when you took on the accounting analysis, but you went way too deep. The Force overwhelmed you, and that might be because you tried to jump right into the deep end, but I doubt that was the only reason you created your own issues.”

“You don’t think it was because I used the Force to teach myself an entire discipline, I had no familiarity with?” Ori’s eyes widened in shock.

“No, that is something I have done myself. Any talented knight would be able to do that,” Skrath allowed himself a soft chuckle. “Most end up just as confused as you were by their reports, they write but… they know exactly what they did and why. You couldn’t answer those questions, and that speaks to a lack of control, which we are going to be remedying.”

“How?”

“By starting small,” Skrath grinned wickedly and leaned in across the table to look his Padawan directly in the eyes. “Has your handwriting improved at all in the past week? Because I know you still need to write some apology notes…”

“I was hoping to put that off,” Ori said, suitably abashed, “Especially once you pointed out the political issues which we found. The Council Masters, yes, those need to be done but…”

“Ah.” Skrath leaned back and thought about what his Padawan had said. He wasn’t exactly wrong now that he thought about it. Writing an apology to Palpatine when, depending on how the Council followed up on his report, the Order could be bringing down substantial portions of his administration or even himself if he was involved … that might create more issues then he wanted to deal with. He would have to consult the Council about that before he came to a decision.

(reviewed by lloyd007)


	5. Chapter 5

“Disturbing, this is,” Yoda stated sharing a knowing look with Mace Windu. Skrath had expected to be reporting to the Council as a whole, but when his Preliminary Findings Brief had hit the Temple's intranet, he had been summoned to report to just the Council Master and Order's Grandmaster.  
  
“Dooku has gone further than I would have ever expected him to,” Mace's lips were drawn into a tight line. Despite his self-control a touch of anger was leaking into his force presence. Skrath wasn’t happy about that, because it meant he had missed something in his investigation. Yes, the Republic re-militarizing could be seen as in defiance of Ruusan, but given the unrest and certain escalation clauses it hardly merited anger from the Jedi. If anything, they could use this to lift a few of the more dangerously obsolete provisions of that reform that had allowed the Naboo Crisis to get as bad as it did, a good thing in his mind.  
  
"Always too involved with the political game, Dooku is." Yoda bowed his head, sorrow infusing his being. “That he turns his knowledge against us, a blow this is.”  
  
“Masters?” Skrath raised an eyebrow at that pronouncement.  
  
“He couldn’t have accomplished this alone,” Mace let a bit of his frustration leak out. “It would take two Masters to release those funds, at least from our side. We should not have been blindsided like this; if anything the reports on our finances should have caught that much money being moved around.”  
  
“Smart they were,” Yoda also ignored Skraths implied question. “Historical Accounts, audit regularly we do not. A decade schedule we keep.”  
  
“And he would have known that,” Mace bowed his head, then shook it like a nerf shooing off a particularly annoying fly. "Unfortunately, I don't think it's possible to recall enough Investigators to put our own house in order and track down where the outside funding is coming from before the muckrakers and conspirators in the Senate get wise to this. I know we didn’t have enough in those accounts to pay for everything that Knight Kri and his Padawan have uncovered. We raided those funds several times over the centuries to keep the Order solvent when the Senate was being particularly obtuse.”  
  
“Failure, of our Order this was,” Yoda’s ears flattened as he said that. “Entrusted to us, those funds were.”  
  
“If the funds you are talking about were depleted just by the operating costs of the Order in particularly lean years, then there is no way in the nine Corellian Hells that they were used to actually do what we found.” Skrath’s blocky face took on an appearance of granite. “How certain are we that those funds were used?”  
  
“The initial account set up had at least some contributions from the Historical Accounts,” Mace said, his face mirroring a thunderstorm. “That is the reason you are reporting to just myself and Yoda at this point in time.”  
  
“Point you have,” Yoda acknowledged softly. “Situation we must deal with now.”  
  
“We cannot afford to alienate the reformers at this point in time, they would take their grudge to the Senate and that would sink us all.”  
  
“Senate, or Chancellor, already aware,” Yoda said continuing in his softest voice.  
  
“I… had not considered that,” Mace sighed as he said that. “More Investigators, more investigations into the Senate. Just what we cannot afford at this time.”  
  
“Necessary it is.”  
  
“Masters, I do not understand your worry,” Skrath finally interrupted the two. Their back and forth hadn’t gone completely over his head, but he didn’t see the danger that they evidently did.  
  
“Against future needs, these accounts were established,” Yoda decided to answer him. “Funds set aside should the peace hold not.”  
  
“Are we rearming though? I doubt the Council ordered such…”  
  
Mace put up his hand to forestall the Investigator, "There were no votes in either the High or full Council on invoking the escalation clauses. With the Trade Federation disarming in accordance with the sanctions and the Senate mired in internal scandals, this rearmament will appear to be a direct violation of Ruusan in reaction to the Naboo Crisis. With the future already clouded and the actions of Dooku only tying our hands, we are in a politically vulnerable position."  
  
“But this was a Senatorial commission? Or at least that’s what the initial authorization codes are,” Skrath frowned as he tried to understand how this could be construed as the Jedi Order's fault. Or if this even was a real issue. Rearming now made sense to him, especially given the rumblings from the rim he had heard about secession from the Republic. He couldn’t have been the only one to notice, especially not if this massive project had been authorized.  
  
“True, but the Jedi were entrusted as the custodians of those accounts. We were to act as the final brake on the Senate should they go overboard, or decided to renounce Ruusan without proper debate,” Mace’s voice was flat as he said that. “It is a charge we have now failed.”  
  
“Have we though?” Skrath tried to think like a politician and grimaced as he failed miserably. “Couldn’t we just send a short note to the Chancellor explaining that there is a proper procedure to go through should he want a mission accomplished, and going behind the Council's back directly to a specific Jedi is not that? Especially if the mission he wants to accomplish results in a Jedi resigning in disgust?”  
  
“On the Council, Dooku was. Responsible for his actions, we are.” Yoda's voice was grim.  
  
“I would like to,” Mace seemed lost in his own little world as he continued. “Oh, how I would like to. It’s a bad idea though, we can’t afford to weaken the Chancellor at this point in time. He’s neck deep in Krath hounds and sinking fast trying to fix the Senate. If we had a clear indication from the Force, I would do it in a heartbeat, but we don’t so we must be cautious here. Besides, he isn’t the only one who could have issued this order, any chair being of any Senatorial committee on security could have issued the order if he had a supermajority of his committee agree to it. It would not do for us to act in haste and damage the Republic with our actions, and accusing the Chancellor of ordering this without definitive proof would do just that. Our neutrality and dedication to the whole Republic is just about the only source of stability left these days. Palpatine and the other reformers are beginning to correct the ship of state, but they aren’t there yet. Too many of the institutions on which the Republic relies upon have been either damaged or allowed to wither too far in the past century. The Republic can, and must prevail, against this challenge, but adding our own woes would not be advisable at this time.”  
  
“Corruption, limited to the Senate we thought,” Yoda put in. “Fix ourselves first, we must. Long this process will be.”  
  
“Tedious you mean,” Mace said with a sigh. “And very political. I’m not sure how much of this can be considered corruption, and how much it can be considered political dissidence. Dooku obviously felt ignored and powerless even while sitting on the Council, how many other Jedi of lesser stature will have aided him or made their own moves and committed to their own acts of protest because they do not believe that they are being heard? We need to find that out, especially the scope of your former Padawan's actions before we can gather the Council to debate a unified resolution.  
  
Skrath's head spun a bit as the whiplash of tension contained in that last sentence swept over him in the Force as Mace turned back to address him, and Skrath immediately felt better as Mace's face took on a note of embarrassment at realizing his control had slipped, but continued on, "Skrath, how many Investigators do you estimate we can pull from their current assignments to the internal and external investigations on short notice?"  
  
“On short notice? Three at most,” Skrath replied without hesitation, a flicker of annoyance rising at Mace's shock. "I had a conversation with Tulgree when I got back and the main topic of discussion was just how many Investigators were trapped in the scandal swamp that is the Senate at this moment, and if they weren't trapped there, they were involved with trying to bring down the crime rings that have flourished post Naboo. Any Investigator you reassign from an open Senate investigation is guaranteed to draw attention, and reassigning Investigators who're dealing with the scum of the galaxy when they aren't wearing any masks of pretext or civility to investigations of the kind you're going to conduct is not viable. Not to mention the issue which caused me to take Ori as my Padawan, I believe we already had this discussion Master Windu.”  
  
“We did,” Mace inclined his head, remembering the conversation that he and Skrath had before the mission had begun. He had known that the investigators were hurting for people, and that they were painfully slow to fully train, but he hadn’t realized it was this bad.  
  
“Master Windu, this isn’t going to be a clean investigation,” Skrath contemplated the task that was being laid out in front of the Investigators. “Since it is our responsibility, we need to get a handle on what is going on with the rearmament first. That is going to take at least three teams of Investigators, although...." Skrath paused as he realized he'd just assigned those Investigators who might be recalled and then some, "...we may be able to slot in Guardian and Consular Knights into the teams to cover the gaps, but you'll need to assign those most able to follow orders since if previous investigations where they were employed are anything to go by, their efforts will be wide, but very shallow and they will need to help the Investigators in conducting the deeper portions of the investigations where tipping the target off that the Jedi have found anything at all will ruin the investigation. Ori and I found several starting points, but I have no doubt that those are going to be complex investigations that spin off in multiple directions. If my experience is anything to go on there is far more happening in the galaxy then we suspect, much less know. Most of the Senators have long memories, some have very adept intelligence services, and if we cut corners and half ass this those political vulnerabilities of the Order you were talking about will be aired."  
  
Skrath's voice turned colder as his mind went from the 'easy' investigations outside the Order to its internal affairs. "If we have to audit ourselves at the same time… well that’s not going to be possible. For one, I don't know the minds of my colleagues on conducting such an investigation, regarding either the underlying politics or their thoughts on conducting an investigation like this in the first place. Second, it will take some time in meditation and further discussion with you to figure out how to go about this since this isn't like a Dark side turn and if we act like it is, we will reap the bitter harvest of self fulfillment from that. Third, I have some thoughts on the necessity of a sweeping internal affairs investigation given the major flaws in our digital security. Are disbursements from the Historical Accounts electronically authorized?  
  
"They are." Windu replied, his face made of stone as he had to stand and accept unpleasant truth after unpleasant truth without recourse.  
  
"Then the assertion that two Masters would be needed to authorize such disbursements is not necessarily true, it might've been Dooku alone or even someone else." Skrath paused for a second on looking at Windu's and Yoda's face and realizing he'd just sent their heads spinning, and decided to end on a note of levity. "Hells, if I were to open the Historical Account logs right now, I'd doubtlessly find the disbursements authorized by the entire Council, but especially Grandmaster Yoda and Council Master Mace Windu."  
  
The tension broke as Yoda gave an easy and grateful chuckle of relief and Mace smiled despite himself.  
  
“Talk, to Master Tulgree we must.” Yoda put in before focusing on Skrath with all of his senses once again. “This issue, motivates you it does not.”  
  
Skrath replied without hesitation. “I’m going to need to pull myself from the rotation, after what we ran into on Rothana, Ori needs more guidance then I can provide while investigating this matter.”  
  
“Issues you have?” Yoda cocked an ear in surprise. “Biddable your Padawan was. Slow to pick up the force, yes, but competent.”  
  
“Ori is a headache and a half,” Skrath responded with a shake of his head. “He gets the basics we teach at the Temple well enough, but the way he approaches the Force can be dangerous when he tries to move beyond them. I’m going to need to work with him before I feel comfortable letting him learn beyond what he already knows. Additionally… Ori has displayed a worrying degree of sensitivity to the Force recently, and while I may not be a healer, I do know enough to recognize the warning signs that there is something wrong with a being’s connection to the Force. I fear that what Dooku did may have done my Padawan an injury, and that needs to be fully checked out before I feel comfortable bringing him back into the field.”  
  
“That is a concerning assertion,” Mace put in lightly, he was clearly worried but hiding it well. “How much evidence do you have at the moment?”  
  
“Very little,” Skrath replied with a frustrated grunt. “I stand by what I said to you before I left. He has the potential to be a great Investigator. He managed to use the Force to learn an entire skill set that he did not possess during our investigation, that is a skill some Knights I have known struggle with. That said, the very mentality which makes him such a potential asset in the long run is a problem when I try to assess just how injured in the Force he is, or even if he truly is injured. He naturally hides his weaknesses as a matter of course, and being injured is a very large weakness, one he will not admit to without what he feels is a good reason. I know that something is going on with him, but I cannot work out if it is in his head, or if it is the result of a Force injury he took on the mission, or if it is something else. His inherent paranoia does not help matters, when we discussed returning, he became paranoid to the point I thought he was convinced I was going to remand him to the Agri corps, but when I reassured him on that his wariness didn't abate in the least. I do have to ask, has an attempt been made to secure the Temple's computers against him?”  
  
“We have taken a few precautions against his eventual return,” Mace laughed lightly before continuing. “I don’t know how effective they will be considering the penetration that he managed but they should slow him down a bit. You will have to tell us if our precautions were sufficient.”  
  
“They weren’t, sufficient that is, thank the Force." Both Masters' eyebrows arched in unison and Skrath chuckled. "When I left my Padawan he was perusing the Archives for pre Ruusan meditation treatises using a Master’s access, which should abet his paranoia a bit. This would be even more difficult if that instinct of his had been tripped,” Skrath replied with a nonverbal shout of relief in the Force. “What do you want me to do with my investigation now? Who do I turn it over to in order to tend to my Padawan's needs.”  
  
Yoda closed his eyes briefly in concentration and Skrath could feel him reaching out to the Force for guidance. "Fix your Padawan's issue, you must. Critical it is. However, part, you still have to play; though unclear it is at this time. Time enough you have to lay foundation for our audit. Consult with your old Master, we will. Further instructions from him, you will receive."  
  
“Beginning the audit is just numbers work, I can borrow X-RAD from Ori to do the preliminaries,” Skrath accepted that directive easily enough. “I think I will spend a few months working with my Padawan in the meantime. Some of his issues will go away once I get him on the right track with his Force use, allowing a clearer picture to develop. I will say that traditional training will not benefit him as much as we would all hope, so as the Will of the Force clears up, I would ask your indulgence in proposing non-traditional solutions, over the long term.”

  
“Another exception?” Mace asked with a raised eyebrow. “I told you how I feel about those. Having a Master look over your Padawan because you fear he is injured is one thing, but more than that is not our way.”  
  
“Perhaps,” Skrath chewed on his lip as he tried to find the right words to express what the Force was telling him. “I think more a modification of our traditional methods then a full exception. He would benefit from being around other Jedi more than just myself. Ones he trusts that is, I doubt any Master who you can convince to look him over is going to earn that trust. From my observations he has two problems learning from me aside from his most recent and worrying issues, first he shows signs of prescience, and I don’t need to tell you about my own abysmal record when dealing with that. Second, his sensitivity to the Force, which he demonstrated on Rothana to be on a level I have rarely seen outside of Masters who've spent years finding truth in the philosophies of the Living Force, like Qui Gon Jinn. He FELT what Dooku had done there where I only felt the slightest unease; and not only that, he developed a frankly unnerving skill to counter it that also heightened my sensitivity to it to extreme discomfort. Which is another point at which he could very well have done himself an injury. He needs to talk with a more experienced Jedi than myself, although getting him to do so will be an uphill battle. Not to mention that being in the Temple seems to have exacerbated his sensitivity issue, at least temporarily. Perhaps an expedition? Something to allow him to learn from multiple perspectives, allowing me time to work through whatever has gone wrong away from the Temple. One of the most pressing things I need to teach him is how to ask for help rather than seeking the answer on his own. An issue I had when I was younger, and which Master Tulgree used several joint investigations to clear up for me. An expedition will get him out of the temple, but not put him in a position where he can accidentally damage something important while he heals, should he be injured. I, quite frankly, would welcome the back up as well. As I said, healing is not my forte.”  
  
“Impetus of youth, he has in full measure then,” Yoda accepted what Skrath was saying, but still voiced a mild rebuke. “Beyond the remit of a Master, this is not. Dangerous it would be to allow too many to work on determining his issues. Too readily would you give up your Padawan. Make worse his mentality, you will. Primary source of learning, and healing, you must be.”  
  
“True,” Mace pursed his lips. “I think we can find you a mission like that if you give us time. I cannot think of one at this moment, but I will admit my thoughts are already preoccupied with what you have brought us. I need time to meditate before I can give you a definite yes or no answer, or a mission which will achieve your goals. The only people who I can think to team you up with now would be Kenobi and Skywalker, but I doubt you want to drag your Padawan into the middle of THAT political mess. Not to mention Obi-Wan hasn’t been a Knight much longer then you have been. Also, his talents lie in negotiation, not healing, and he has yet to develop the wisdom you need.”

  
“Healing, he still is,” Yoda interrupted sharply. “Interfere we must not. Too much have we done already. Ready, he was not, for his Padawan. Time we must give him to come to terms with the death of his Master.”  
  
“If you didn’t think him ready, why in the blasted Hells did you push so hard to allow that!” Mace said in exasperation.  
  
“Part of the healing process, Anakin had become,” Yoda’s ears twitched as if they were going to lower in shame. “Interrupt that, I could not.”  
  
“Even if you thought it was possible I would politely but firmly say; no thank you,” Skrath’s horror at literally everything about the idea was clear on his face. He was well aware of the exceptions which were piling up around Kenobi as he tried to integrate his Padawan into the Jedi lifestyle. Kenobi was turning out to be a respectable Guardian, although one with a distinctly Consular style, but he was having to bend the rules into a pretzel in order to accommodate Skywalker's sensibilities. The disastrous attempts to put Skywalker in with regular initiates had resulted in a slew of exceptions being made in the hopes of keeping the 'Chosen One' on task, at least according to the Temple's rumor mill. Putting Ori into that mix wouldn’t help him, or Skywalker. “I’m sure a more traditional pairing would be better for my Padawan. Skywalker is too good at picking up Force skills and that would only exacerbate Ori’s issues. He would feel the need to cut corners we do not want him cutting in order to keep up with Skywalker, probably injuring himself further, and that has disaster written all over it.”  
  
“Truth you speak.” Yoda smiled as he said that. “Meditate on this we must. Answers, give you we will in time.”  
  
“In the meantime, Ki-Adi-Mundi is available to work out just what level of prescience your Padawan actually has. He also has the skills needed to determine if your Padawan has taken a serious injury, or if this is just a reaction which will go away in time. I know that the manual the healing halls puts out lists extreme sensitivity as one of the most common and dangerous side effects of taking a Force wound, but that is out of an overabundance of caution. I can think of several ways for that to occur, which would not require your Padawan to be injured,” Mace pursed his lips. “Still, best to get that possibility dealt with swiftly. Mundi is available, and will be more than willing to help. If he does find your Padawan to have some level of prescience it would do him some good to teach for a bit. His lack of a Padawan of his own has become an issue recently, and I feel it best if he works on his inability to teach while under the gaze of an attentive Knight such as yourself. You have the backbone to stand up to him and tell him he is wrong should he make an error, and that would reassure him more than I think he knows.”  
  
“That would be greatly appreciated master,” Skrath bowed slightly. “I know I am out of my depth in dealing with either issue. Give me an investigation, or a disruption mission, and I can teach Ori how to do it in my sleep but the more esoteric force skills? Or worse, healing others? My sole interest in healing has been in self-healing, trances and the like, the less said about my thoughts on more esoteric abilities the better.”  
  
“Sentinels,” Mace shook his head in exasperation. “You do have the time to remedy your lack of Force skills. Perhaps you would benefit from spending some time with master Mundi almost as much as your Padawan will.”  
  
“I use the Force perfectly well, thank you very much, it’s just that I don’t need to call on it for every little thing,” Skrath replied with the standard response. “Having other skills is not a falling after all.”  
  
“Right you were, to take your Padawan, heard this I did several times from him,” Yoda’s ears perked up as he spoke. He was enjoying falling back into the usual banter between Jedi practitioners and their divergent paths rather than dealing with more weighty matters. Although he did recognize that Skrath was using it as something of a defense mechanism. The young Knight was distracting himself from his worries. Still, it was a rare Jedi who would banter with him, his usual stature in the Order prevented that from happening. If Skrath had the termitary temerity to do so he was one to watch in the future.  
  
“Don’t remind me,” Skrath sighed heavily. “There is such a thing as taking it too far, and Ori embodies that. If I had longer hair, I would be tearing it out.”  
  
“Padawans,” Mace grinned as he spoke. “Why do you think I shaved my head? I think you would look good after running a razor or two over your skull. For some reason the other Masters keep telling me that recommending to young Knights that they shave their heads for the first year or two of taking a Padawan would discourage them.”

* * *

“Alright Ori, given what I saw on our last mission I think we should start this session with the basics.” Skrath paced in front of his Padawan trying to figure out how to say what he needed to say without resorting to the Force. For some reason ever since they had gotten back to the Temple Ori had become more reactive against the Force inserting itself into his thoughts, and anyone who was using the Force to manipulate him. Even minor things like trying to teach him with the aid of the Force were drawing ever stronger reactions from him these days

  
“I rather think we’ve gone over them several times in the past week,” Ori replied cheekily. “Despite my reactions, I think I’m beginning to get what you want me to.”  
  
  
“You are,” Skrath admitted swiftly. “It’s just that what I want you to get, and what you want to get out of what I am teaching you, are not exactly the same thing. You keep trying to use every technique to control yourself, and to an unhealthy degree. I want you to be able to control your connection to the Force when working with it. The difference between those goals may seem small, but it's there and it is having an outsized effect on you. Every time you start to meditate you yank yourself back, and each time it gets closer to that Force Blockading technique you demonstrated on Rothana. But while it's not going to be easy; I think I have a way to get us both what we want out of these sessions.”  
  
“I…” Ori chewed his lip for a moment trying to find a way to express himself without completely screwing himself over. He knew he had been getting short with everyone recently, but he thought that greater self control would solve the issue. “I think if I were off Coruscant I wouldn’t have nearly as many problems with my control as I do. Ever since I got here there has been a feeling of a... wet blanket pressing down on me from all sides is the best way I can describe it. Even when we were on Rothana, and when we were being misdirected by Dooku's twisting of the Force, it didn’t feel this suffocating. I never thought anything was wrong before but… looking back on it, after getting off world for the first time, there has to be something wrong with the Force here. I just can’t figure out what it is, and as you say, my actions to counteract it are becoming something of a conscious reflex. ”  
  
“Much as it pains me to say this you might be one of those beings who is overly sensitive to the Force,” Skrath scratched his chin and thought about what Ori had just told him. “Have you researched just why this temple was erected here, and why it was rebuilt even after it was sacked multiple times?”  
  
“Because theirs a Sith temple under it and the Order needed to keep that contained,” Ori replied with a roll of his eyes. “Mind you, I haven’t managed to get further than that in the Archives, because someone went out of their way to try and get my access revoked. I’ve had to spend a bit of time defending my exploits, and setting up new ones just in case.”  
  
“As if that’s going to keep you from your research for long,” Skrath rolled his eyes at his Padawan's complaint. “I’m well aware you’re already back into the system despite what the IT department can do to keep you out.”  
  
“I’m more offended by the way they tried to get rid of my access than anything else. Really, it was all brute force with no refinement or attempts to close the exploits I used.” Ori expressed his irritation freely at that. “I can understand it as a short term measure, but revoking all administrative access to the temple network and then requiring Cin Dralligs approval to grant access might have, temporarily, solved their problems but as soon as I returned I was back in the system, and they haven’t managed to secure the system. Really what did they think I was doing when I granted myself root access? It was an insultingly amateur attempt.”  
  
“True, but we are drifting off topic,” Skrath smiled as he said that. He had known that Ori wasn’t happy with the IT department but it would be nice to pass his complaints off to them and see what they did. He was afraid there was going to need to be a shake up there, they were all too complacent. It had been a while since someone had taken an electronic run at the Temple, and if Oris complaints were any indication despite the orders fearsome reputation any slicing attempts made would very likely succeed. “The reason this temple has stood for as long as it has does have a bit to do with the Sith temple, but it has more to do with the fact that there is a wellspring of Force here.”  
  
“I am not exactly clear on just what that is Master,” Ori’s eyebrows drew together in concentration. “I have read the term before, especially in the older Masters works, but I never saw a definition and my attempts to understand it from context were… scattered? Too many different interpretations on just what that meant, as each Master seemed to have a different idea.”  
  
“That comes as no surprise to me. The experience of a wellspring is a more intensely subjective than most any other Force phenomenon. What I say it's truly like will almost certainly be as different from those old Masters as those Masters to each other and to your experience, and all of use will be right... and all of us wrong. About all we can say for sure is that it’s a point in the galaxy where the Force bursts forth and concentrates. What that means, well, again, I’m sure you have your own ideas as has every Master, Knight, and Padawan to come across the phenomenon.”  
  
“So Coruscant has an unusual amount of Force present?” Ori looked almost horrified at the thought. “Why would anyone put the seat of a galactic government here then? Trusting in the Force is all well and good for a Jedi, but for a politician? Especially one who was active when the Jedi weren’t restricted from holding political power!?… they... they would have to be insane to do that, especially if they saw just how the Force interacts with those who have power and how it guides their actions.”  
  
“It’s one of the reasons there were more than seventeen wars between Coruscant and Alsakan over just where the seat of the Republic would be. Of course that’s not taught in the history books initiates, padawans and even most knights have access to; I would not recommend you go looking for those histories as they are rather restricted. At least not without a current Council member's access code.” Skrath warned his Padawan firmly. He was well aware that Ori would go looking, but now he would do so cautiously. As far as he knew Ori hadn’t managed to get one of those codes, and his attempts would probably be illuminating. “With that in mind I think a major part of your problem with the Force can be traced back to your recent hyper sensitivity. While your self control means you are very aware of the parts of you which you want to be, what we ran into on Rothana seems to have left all parts of you overly sensitized and probably overwhelming that self control, leaving me trying to figure out what’s best for you.”  
  
“Parts of me?” Ori latched on to that part of Skrath's comment immediately, just as he had been expected to.  
  
“We talked about this a bit back on Rothana, you have some unusual holes in your sense of self, or at least it looks that way from the outside. Parts of your mentality, and your body, you ignore. Part of that might be poor teaching in the creche, or it could relate to you trying to figure out how to defend your mind and leaving parts out because you didn’t think you could defend everything. I don’t need to know just why it is, but it is something I have observed that continues to be a problem for you. Even after I talked with you about it.”  
  
“That’s.. disappointing. I thought I was getting a handle on that.”  
  
“It is getting better, even here in the Temple." Skrath smiled inside as Ori's face turned resentful for a moment, "I have noticed a few issues which I didn’t talk to you about, I doubt they are new but I didn’t notice before. You tend to forget to reinforce your claws with the Force when we spar in hand to hand. It’s a minor thing, but as your Master and being responsible for your safety… well I have to watch you closely, so I did notice.”   
  
“Is that why you have been concentrating on my hands when we spar?” Ori frowned as he tried to think back to all of the times they had spared, and just when Skrath had started to concentrate on his hands, and more importantly his claws. “None of the initiate instructors noticed, of course they also missed the Lekku issue…”  
  
“I’m not surprised, you are very good at compensating when you do consciously realize the vulnerability,” Skrath shrugged as he said that. Once more resolving to bring his Padawan's abysmal initiate instruction to the Council and see if they could do anything to keep it from being repeated. “That said, you have a very clear issue and we need to solve it before we can start taking missions again. You compensate well enough I wouldn’t worry about a basic mission, but the more complicated and dangerous missions, like the one we ended up discovering, could very well be the death of you, and me, if we don’t get this fixed.”  
  
“You aren’t bouncing me for this?” Ori’s eyes widened in surprise.  
  
“Of course not, I would be the poorest Master in the history of the Order if I gave up on my Padawan at the first sign of trouble.” Skrath felt his own eyeroll at Ori’s pessimism. "You still have the potential which caused me to take you on in the first place. It would be a waste to let that go. We just need to fix a few things before we can get back out into the galaxy. It’s why I asked the Council to take us off the duty rotation, and why they granted my request after I tie up some loose ends.”  
  
“So how do I fix this? And don’t tell me meditation Master, I have tried that... repeatedly,” Ori scowled, and Skrath realized just how hard Ori had been trying and failing to meditate. Ori tended to be secretive, and independent to a fault; Skrath was certain that he had overcome more than a few hurdles on his own through sheer stubbornness when it came to the Force, but this was an issue he couldn't bully through and then didn’t know how to ask for help. The strange currents of Ori’s pride and humility might be an issue going forward, but it was one he could deal with at a later date.   
  
“By teaching you a more advanced form of Force concealment,” Skrath grinned at Ori’s skeptical expression. He also pointedly didn’t mention that as a side effect of these types of meditation any damage to his Force presence would be visible. It was one of the most complicated, and frankly dangerous types of meditation, but it would let Master Mundi have a look at all of Ori. Of course it would be appreciated if that Master would bother to return one of the several messages Skrath had left him, but for the moment he seemed to be content to observe under Force stealth. It was good enough to fool Ori at the moment, but it was annoying Skrath. “Keep in mind that this one is dangerous, I don’t want you attempting it without me there to guide you. Eventually this skill will become second nature to you, and it is more sustainable in the long term then the method you already know, but it isn’t for beginners.”  
  
“Warning acknowledged,” Ori replied promptly. Skrath could tell he was taking this seriously, which was a very good thing. Skrath hadn’t wanted to teach him this until he had spent a few more years as a Padawan and gotten a better handle on the Force. Yoda had put paid to that plan, suggesting this path to Skrath in a way that implied it was just short of an order.  
  
“Right, so the initial path to force concealment is to control your own connection to the Force, its mostly internal, and that’s why I taught it to you because you are good at that sort of thing. The problem with it is that you need to keep conscious control over it at all times in order for it to be effective. When you’re sleeping, knocked out, or even if you find something distracting your control slips and with it, your concealment. The second method which is, much more effective under most circumstances, is to blend yourself into the background. You dilute your Force presence and let it diffuse into the background hum of the Force.” Skrath felt a spike of irritation from the hidden Master but declined to twist the knife. Apparently, Mundi was annoyed to learn that his chosen method of concealment had been breached.  
  
“That sounds… difficult… especially for me.”  
  
“It is,” Skrath stated flatly. “Now feel my presence, tell me how it changes, and just what I’m doing in your own words.”  
  
With that Skrath closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and began to feel out his own Force signature. This wasn’t a skill he used often, as he very rarely went up against Force sensitive opponents, but it was one he had forced himself to master after one of his missions had gone spectacularly wrong when he ran into a fallen Jedi. It had taken him years to get this down, and he expected that Ori would be in a similar position, but it was too useful of a skill to ignore and it would be a tool to allow Ori to address his own issues. He began to gently pull his Force signature out. Skrath had always imagined himself gently tugging on his own force presence, unraveling it strand by strand, and letting those individual strands be caught by the general weave of the Force in the background. It took him time, but eventually he had completed his task, and his presence was no longer standing out in the Force but woven into it. He almost seamlessly blended into the background as if he belonged there, his sense of self woven neatly into the tapestry that was the Force.  
  
“You see?” Skrath asked opening his eyes again and looking at his Padawan.  
  
“I do,” Ori sounded awed by what he had witnessed, which was an unusual reaction for him. That was an interesting data point, one he would have to think on later.  
  
“Now how did it seem to you?”  
  
“You… diffused yourself, letting go and almost coming out of your body,” Ori frowned as he tried to find the right words. “The elements are still there, but they are kneaded into the Force seamlessly. Almost as if you put a bit of Lum bread dough into a pastry mix and then worked them until they combined. I’m not sure exactly how you did it, but that’s what it felt like… almost as if you were taking each ingredient out of your own mix and adding it to the worlds mix one at a time. How do you keep sane doing that, or stay yourself?” Sanity, Ori always mentions it when it comes to the Light side... I will have to talk with him about that later, Skrath thought, perhaps Master Mundi will have some insight.

  
“With a great amount of effort Padawan mine,” Skrath laughed at the gob smacked expression on Ori’s face. “It isn’t actually that bad, I can still feel what is me and what is the background easily enough, but the key here is you need to be aware of everything about yourself. You need to intimately know just what is you and what is not. That is part of what makes this such a dangerous skill to learn. If you don’t have a phenomenal level of self-knowledge, without any hint of self-deception, then you can easily either leave a part of yourself behind when you pull everything back, or take something in you don’t want to.”  
  
“That is... terrifying,” Ori replied flatly.  
  
“I know." Skrath's tone was firm as he laid out the ground rules, "Which is why I’m going to sit here and meditate with you while you map yourself out. This is your first lesson on this technique so I will be providing a 'curtain' around you which will let us both know if you are going too far. If I feel your presence is merely wandering I will count down ten seconds for you to pull yourself back before I intervene. If I feel you are losing control, I will intervene immediately. If I intervene, it WILL feel uncomfortable, but know that you are safe, do you understand?" Skrath paused a second as Ori pondered, then nodded in the affirmative, "For your part, you need to feel every bit of your force presence, every dark little thought, every last misdeed and triumph,” Skrath’s voice was soft as he said that. “I don’t need to know these things, you don’t need to tell me, but you need to see and acknowledge yourself completely before we can even begin to move on to the next step of this. This is going to be intensely personal for you, which is why we are doing this in a private meditation room, and like I said I don’t want you to try doing this without me here to pull you back. Now begin.” 

* * *

“Master Mundi, thank you for taking the time to look over my Padawan,” Skrath said evenly while repressing his desire to hit the Master in front of him. His examination had been completely at a distance and then seemed to consist more of reading records instead of actually looking at Ori’s Force presence. When Skrath had felt him taking a look, it was from behind a substandard bit of Force concealment, annoying Skrath as he tried to teach without the aid of the Force.  
  
“I have just begun, please take a seat,” Mundi bowed his tall head indicating one of the low chairs in front of the data pad filled desk he was sitting at. “Given your reports I felt it best to start my assessment at a distance.”  
  
“And have you reached any conclusions yet?” Skrath asked with a slightly raised eyebrow, his assessment of Mundi changing in an instant at the new information. He hadn’t felt the Master around for any long periods, but if he was skilled enough in concealment then he might not have. I'll have to watch my impatience far more carefully in this matter, he thought with chagrin.   
  
“Some, none firm at the moment,” Mundi said with a sigh. “Your Padawan is a contradiction. Making my job harder than I thought it would be. Did you know that by the numbers Ori should have been remanded to the technical corps as soon as he reached the halfway mark in his initiate training? And then the records show things like this:”  
  
With a minor exertion of Force, Mundi activated one of the data pads on his desk, a pale blue holo sprang to life over it. Skrath bit his lip and cocked his head to the side as he observed what was happening. He had never seen training holos like this before, then he nodded in understanding. It was a security capture, not one of the official cameras which could be taken out for a teacher to film a class with. On it a five or six year old Ori was sitting in the middle of a room, an empty storage room if Skrath didn’t miss his guess, not one of the sanctioned training halls, calmly floating a dozen pebbles in complex patterns around his left hand.  
  
“Understandably he was moved into close observation after the Temple Guard reported his activities to his clan leader, and she kept him on the path to becoming a Knight rather than encouraging his technical fascination.” Mundi continued calmly. “Impressive control, especially for that age. Made all the more surprising because his midichlorian count is closer to that of a Togruta, one on the low end of acceptable power.”  
  
“I knew his count was considered low… but really?” Skrath had to raise an eyebrow at that assertion. Generally, midichlorian counts were kept from Initiates and Padawans. No one wanted to spark jealousy or convince the younglings that they didn’t have the power to do what they were asked. He hadn’t bothered looking up Ori’s, he had passed the trials after all and that was all he had needed to know. He'd wholeheartedly agreed with Master Tulgree's thoughts on the theory of midichlorian constancy and the reliability of testers, that it was blindered thinking which limited a Jedi more than any real power requirements, and experience had only reinforced that belief. To him, the currents of the Force and the mentality of the sensitive were far more important than an abstract number coughed up from a Force dead device that used a physical test to generate those numbers. Not that a majority of the Consulars gave any thought to that, they were annoyingly certain in their belief in the midichlorian testers and theories since they could be used to tell force sensitives from non force sensitives and predict the rough power level difference between beings like Yoda and Skywalker as opposed to 95% of the rest of the Jedi... as though anyone needed a machine to do that.  
  
“Yes, the only reason he came to the attention of the Initiates council was because his parents could no longer deal with a baby who was continuously destroying their hovel. Even then it was the will of the Force a Jedi was on hand to discover him. We rarely receive younglings who are Force Active,” The Cerean Master shook his head. When he had read the story of Ori’s adoption by the Order it had been something out of a fable. Clearly the Force had plans for Ori, why else would it have put him in a position to be discovered so early? “He, and his parents, were rescued by the Jedi and his parents agreed to grant him to the Temple. Part I believe in thanks, and part because they could not deal with the Force powered temper tantrums. The surprising part of the whole story was that he had been tested at birth, and was not unknown to us before he arrived. He had just been passed over because his count was so low, it was believed at the time that while he would be sensitive, he would not be able to make the power cut for any of the Corps, let alone graduation to Knighthood, so better to leave him with his parents and allow him to build a life outside of the Order.”  
  
“Perhaps this is evidence that the midichlorian tester and theories aren't flawless,” Skrath commented dryly. He noted the Cerean’s flinch as he said that through the Force, which was interesting, but could be saved for later. “All this is very interesting, but it has little to do with determining if Ori is injured or not, and more importantly, what I should be doing to help him.”  
  
“True, but it does speak to my difficulties finding you an answer,” Mundi gestured again and another data pad sprang on. This time it was from an unusual angle, although Skrath could still recognize that the footage was security footage, or maybe not, it looked a bit closer to surveillance footage. Judging by the shadows under Ori's eyes it had to have been taken just recently. In fact, if Skrath looked closely he could see the scratch he had inflicted on his Padawan during one of their unarmed spars. Ori had ducked just a bit more slowly than he had allowed for and so he had scratched the top of his Padawans head. Again, he was levitating pebbles, this time a dozen per hand while also going through one of the RSCA katas. Interesting, but hardly relevant he thought. “Ori remains difficult to pin down, and he is still hiding what he can do from just about everyone in the Temple.”  
  
“Well, aside from showing he has better control then he lets on… something I was well aware of after all, I don’t see the issue.” Skrath shrugged. Although he was relieved to see Ori was actively using the Force on his own again, albeit in a manner he had determined was ‘safe’.  
  
“Because he is evading my attempts to pin him down.” Mundi shook his head in exasperation. “He found that camera, destroyed it, and then called in the Temple Guards because he knew that there shouldn’t have been surveillance in that portion of the Temple.”  
  
“Did you have a good talk with Master Drallig?” Skrath almost giggled at the expression on Mundi’s face. That really did sound exactly like something that Ori would do.  
  
“No, I did not,” Mundi replied repressively. “Made worse by the fact that Master Windu was the one who supposedly requested that the Guards investigate.”  
  
“He seems to have moved up in terms of access,” Skrath couldn’t contain his slightly hysterical laugh at that. “I knew he was annoyed by the attempts to keep him out of the Temple's computers but that’s… yeah that’s something else. I may actually have to have a talk with him about his slicing.”  
  
“It wouldn’t do any of us a bit of good,” Mundi snorted. “He’s been running the electronic courses at night and the only reason he doesn’t hold the Temple record for the fastest slice on two of the programs is because he disabled the recorders.”  
  
“Which leaves you missing the information that you need to reach a conclusion…” Skrath leaned back and gave Mundi a speculative look. “Given how… resistant… you have been up till now about actually talking with me I have a feeling that I am not going to like the conclusions you have reached.”  
  
“No, you aren’t.” Mundi acknowledge in a low voice. “For the more important issue, the possibility of Ori being wounded, I think I can lay most of your concerns to rest. Your meditations with him on the more advanced Force stealth method were illuminating to an extent. He does have an odd Force presence, but nothing that looks like a recent wound, either open or healing. However, and this is somewhat speculation since the lesson concluded before I could get a good look at it, there seems to be evidence of some kind of serious injury from when he was younger though, it’s why I went looking into his past. Something, or someone, hurt him deeply when he was an infant. It would explain his active use of the Force so young, defensive uses of the Force by younglings are not unknown, unfortunately.”  
  
Skrath seemed to teleport upright, his eyes flashing with restrained righteous fury, and his Force presence projecting a barely restrained homicidal intent. He was obviously aware of the implications of Mundi’s last statement. “Tell me that you know who or what did that to him and we have dealt with that.”  
  
“I cannot.” Mundi projected calm towards the younger Jedi.  
  
“Kriffing Hells! As if what we found wasn’t bad enough. If this was done to Ori, and we don’t know when or how it was done, then that means we probably missed a hundred or more younglings who were tortured by some Darksider in a similar manner.”  
  
“I’m pleased to see you have your Master's intelligence,” Mundi grimaced as he spoke. He really didn’t like dealing with Tulgree, the man was too inclined to take investigations against the most vicious criminals rings these days, the ones that could only end with a pile of corpses. Skrath was, according to his records, more restrained, except when younglings were involved. Crimes involving them would cause Skrath to stop caring much about the Code and start acting like a Judiciary Officer in Jedi robes until he had his answers. Fortunately, despite the dark tendencies his actions betrayed, he had never shown anything but the faded aura of the dark side in his Force presence that all Investigators carried after such cases, at least according to the medical reports, the Cerean would dearly love to know how he did that. “At least we have a time period to start investigations, ones you are NOT to involve yourself with! This is Shadow council business, and the council is not inclined to let this pass.”  
  
“How was it missed?”  
  
“Because it was done to an infant,” Mundi sighed in exasperation. “One who could not communicate with his minders. I suspect the damage, and repairing it, was the reason why Ori was so slow to learn to talk, but I cannot say for certain. You yourself missed it; I must point out.”  
  
“Of course, I missed it, I am not a healer, or a clan minder,” Skrath snapped back, irritation clearly radiating from him. “I do not have the training to identify that sort of damage, especially old damage like what you found. I knew enough to see that something had changed and to get wiser heads involved, but this is not my area of expertise. One perhaps important issue for your consideration. Ori worries that using the Force will drive him insane.”  
  
“We all worry about using the Dark side, it’s a never-ending lure for those of us blessed with the Force,” Mundi cocked his head to the side, betraying his confusion. “Though he does seem a bit inexperienced for that to be a real worry. You are right about that.”  
  
“No, Master, he worries that using the Force will drive him insane,” Skrath insisted, willing Mundi to understand. “I will admit he has a very mature wariness about the Dark side, but that is not all he worries about.”  
  
“The Light side!?” Mundi’s eyes flew wide as he understood Skrath's point.  
  
“Exactly.”  
  
“That… is troubling.” Mundi held up a hand to stop Skrath from continuing and put a few notes into his personal data pad. “I will have to do some research then. It sounds like the damage from when he was younger has longer lasting effects then I had believed. While I have dealt with treating injured initiates before, Ori is, I think, both the youngest I've seen such an injury and the long-term effects of it going untreated are not something I am completely familiar with. Especially not on a developing brain, this is going to mean time in the Archives.”  
  
“Well, at least Master Nu will be motivated to help you. She is rather fond of Ori, even if he does exasperate her at times.”  
  
“Agreed,” Mundi with a slight chuckle. He was well acquainted with the formidable women who ran the Temples archives. Her will of iron had intersected with his desires a time or two, and he had never come out the winner. “But this mess leaves us with very few options on how to proceed. If I thought that your Padawan would be willing to talk, I would absolutely try that. He isn’t, so we are going to have to go about this surreptitiously…”  
  
“Which could be a very bad idea,” Skrath settled back and frowned as he turned the other Jedi's words over. He could see the point, especially after the stunt Ori had pulled during his initiate trials, but the Force was telling him this wasn’t exactly the best path forward. “I have a bad feeling about this. Are you sure that passive observation would not be the better choice? Ori doesn’t react well to active pressure, he has a tendency to not see the point, and get even. Even if it is against the Code, Ori is a firm believer in revenge. I haven’t had the time to train him to trust in justice and retribution, and frankly given his profession, I doubt he will ever be completely compliant with that bit of the Code. Investigators tend to be a bit more vindictive than the average Jedi; I know I am.”  
  
“Outside of observing him in another lesson of force concealment, which has the very real risk of me being caught now that he knows of my surveillance; I have gotten everything I can out of passive observation. I need you to start pushing him, both in the Force and physically, so I can observe his reactions,” Mundi sighed as he said that. He completely ignored Skrath's point about revenge, and the vindictive nature of investigators. The Council had spoken, and meditated, on the issue at length in the past. Experiments with training that edge out of investigative focused Jedi hadn’t been successful so they ignored the issue, firmly. “I don’t like it. If we were dealing with anything but a possible Force injury I would not be advocating for it. We are though, and so extreme measures become acceptable.”  
  
“I cannot be the one to push him,” Skrath replied promptly, clearly thinking hard. “He knows my Force signature too well, and it would break the trust between us. Ori is already in a delicate spot regarding doctrine, he doesn’t believe in the Order like you or I do. Me pushing him like this… it could very well cause an explosion the likes of which we haven’t seen since before Ruusan. The Baby Lundi case would be nothing when compared to the damage to the Order Ori would feel compelled to do.”  
  
“And if I do it?”  
  
“Then I might be able to convince him it was a medical procedure, since that is the truth, isn't it?” Skrath looked up from his hands and stared directly in Mundi’s eyes. “You do have precedent and documentation to back up your course of action?”  
  
“I do, mostly from medical journals penned during the New Sith Wars,” Mundi huffed in frustration. “The more politically acceptable sources do not cover this issue. Master Nu was very helpful in finding me what I needed, but I am already going to have trouble justifying this to the Council when it comes out.”  
  
“Ori will be more willing to accept it though,” Skrath nodded. “He trusts the sources from before Ruusan more than those which came after.”  
  
“The Council does not,” Mundi pushed himself back from his desk. “Yoda might accept what I have found, but the others? With the Force clouding as it has been, they have increasingly fallen back on established doctrine to guide their actions. Breaking with that unsettles more than a few of the council Masters these days, and I am already on precarious ground with them.”  
  
“The Padawan issue.”  
  
“As you say. My elevation to The Council had more to do with my species' talents for foresight, but even I have begun to struggle to see a clear path. It is not too bad yet but…”  
  
“You might face backlash for being reckless here,” Skrath frowned. He hadn’t realized just how far out on a limb Mundi was going for his Padawan. “Is there a traditional test for Prognosticative abilities you could administer to cover you?”  
  
“Possibly…” Mundi’s face was a mass of confusion. “I thought that was just the excuse Mace was using to get me to look at your Padawan. I can tell you right now, he doesn’t have the greater gifts. Ori lacks either the power, or the species trait, to allow him to see into the fan of time. Prognostication and Precognition are actually two separate schools of advanced prescience, something all Jedi have to one degree or another. Most just see a second or two into the future, reliably that is, but those with the greater gifts… Prognosticative abilities are actually an entire family of abilities we have lumped together. Precognition is considered one of those, but that specific ability? It is vanishingly rare for the Light side; I cannot think of a single user of it in recent memory. The more common forms of Prognostication are prophetic dreams and visions.”  
  
“Does it really matter what we call them? They are all abilities to view the future, 'look into the fan of time' to use your more poetic wording.” Skrath replied with a shrug.  
  
“The exact method matters, at least in terms of training,” Mundi leaned back in his chair and proceeded to launch into his standard lecture number five on the gift of foresight. “We know that the future is always in motion, so the way we view it effects how it moves. Those gifted with dreams, they tend to see more clearly into the real world, and not the confusing iconography of the unifying force. They see exact and specific events, often without context, so they need to learn how to analyse their dreams and see how something that happens in a dream could come to pass, and how to effect the circumstances of the dream vision for the best effect. While that may seem desirable, they are the most often wrong as other sentients invalidate their dreams by not taking the specific actions which lead to their dream. That particular ‘gift’ is more of a curse than anything else, it has horrifying effects on the Jedi who have it, and very rarely is true. Visions on the other hand, well they are the most complicated. They come directly from the unifying force but it is not as… limited… as we are. It tends to communicate in metaphors, confusing the issue as we try to understand what it is trying to tell us. Our limited minds do not always understand exactly what it is we are seeing. Part of the reason why we Cerean’s who are granted this gift do so well with it, in my own opinion, is our logical minds allow us to tease out the metaphor’s better than other beings. Precognition, true precognition, is so anecdotal it is more a myth than a confirmed ability. I will need to spend more time in the archives to see who is claimed to have actually had it, which as I said no Jedi has in living memory. From what little is known of the ability, it is thought to be 'True Sight.' You are shown the truth of the matter, and multiple possibilities for how it would come to pass. All of which are irrelevant when dealing with your Padawan, as I said…”  
  
“I know the dogma but… he has been showing some signs of the talent. I'm... honestly more than a little bewildered at how my thoughts keeps sticking on this, especially since before I took Ori as my Padawan I'm sure I couldn't tell you a single sign from that stupid pamphlet that was all I'd ever read about prescience,” Skrath shook his head. “I think based on what you said it can be argued that the midichlorian count is an invalid indicator in his case, as he has shown greater potential than that test would lead us to expect.”  
  
“That is an argument I had not considered,” Mundi paused and then almost cackled. “The double veiled test.”  
  
“What exactly is the double veiled test?”  
  
“It is a test of foresight, or prognosticative abilities if you like, where the Master asks a trusted associate to put a steadily mounting amount of pressure on their Padawan. It keeps going until the Padawan either comes to their Master to help them understand what they are seeing, or they ask the one who is putting pressure on them to stop.” Mundi explained briefly. “It is something of a last chance test for those who have shown signs of the ability but hold a distaste for it or don’t use their abilities for other reasons. It forces them to either use it, or shows that they cannot.”  
  
“That describes my Padawan perfectly, don’t you think?”  
  
“True, and since the type of pressure is up to me to apply, I can use what I researched without causing issues. Well, beyond the ones we want to cause.”  
  
“What do I need to do to make your life easier?” Skrath asked calmly. He had accepted that this was the best way to go for now.  
  
“Arrange a lot of sparring for your Padawan, other Padawans, Knights, and any Master you can rope in. I won't have to conceal myself and Ori shows himself more when he is in combat than at any other time.”  
  
“He will like that,” Skrath laughed.

* * *

Skrath huffed an exhausted sigh and leaned back into the wall behind him. He was on one of the observation balconies overlooking the sparring rings, relaxing his concentration as he watched Ori duel. If he had known what he was agreeing to when Mundi had proposed this test, he never would have agreed to it. His time had been eaten by the black hole that was the test, and he hadn’t had time for more then a cursory glance over the dossiers of all the Knights and Masters being recalled for briefings in the past week. Most of his time was taken up by meditating with Ori, running him ragged at the various gyms scattered throughout the temple, or assigning him research topics and then standing over his headstrong Padawan with a metaphorical club to keep him on task. Most of that work wouldn’t have been needed for a regular Padawan undergoing this same test, but it had occurred to Skrath on the first day that Ori was a known flight risk and he couldn’t be completely sure that he had tagged all of the false idents Ori had put together.  
  
“You’ve been busy,” Master Kit Fisto commented dryly. “I’ve been hearing rumors that you’re going to end up right beside Knight Raskta as an example of overtraining.”  
  
“Ori has some issues to work on,” Skrath replied dryly while evaluating the Nautolan Master. He was one of Skrath's top prospects for his expedition idea. Fisto was renowned in the Order for training healers, rather than one of the more common skill sets, and his skill with a saber was equal to the best of the Order. Despite his 'handicap,' and after the past couple of weeks Skrath did consider being a Consular Jedi to be exactly that, he was mentally flexible enough to get the idea and run with it. Not to mention that his own Padawan was reputed to be having issues. Perhaps working with Ori would help him clear those up.  
  
“He’s a Padawan,” Kit replied with a deep laugh. “They all have that… Your evaluation of the spar so far?”  
  
Skrath looked to where his Padawan and Nahdar Veb were sparring and almost shook his head. The view was incongruous to say the least. While Ori looked like the sort of being who should be comfortable with acrobatics, he was keeping his feet on the floor, using his superior speed to force Nahdar back repeatedly. Nahdar on the other hand had the blocky, almost blubbery appearance of his species. His movements lacked the twi'lek's inherent grace, and yet he was flipping around the ring with an impressive display of acrobatics. Not that it was getting him anywhere, in fact Skrath thought he saw the pattern of the match. Nahdar would close, trying to bring Ori to heel with a combination of aerobatic attacks and power blows, only to be overcome by Ori’s speed and greater precision, followed by an aerobatic retreat whenever Ori seemed to be getting the upper hand.  
  
“My main observation so far is that Nahdar shouldn’t have chosen Ataru as his primary form,” Skrath commented idly as he watched Ori go on the offensive. His saber flashed into a short series of thrusts lifted directly from Makashi, using the very tip of his saber to drive his opponent back. “His focus is on healing correct?”  
  
“It is,” Kit cocked his head to the side as he considered just what Skrath had said.  
  
“Makashi or Soresu would serve him better. Their focus on precision would aid his healing studies, the mindset behind them is much more compatible then Ataru’s,” Skrath continued frowning. He reached out with his Force sense, deliberately ignoring the burning star of energy Mundi was putting out as he walked around the room with the ease of practice, and felt his Padawan's emotions. “As for Ori, I know the conventional wisdom is that Niman is the weakest form but…”  
  
Skrath restrained himself from putting his face in his palms as the inevitable happened. Ori had finally gotten fed up with Nahdar bouncing around the room and with deceptive ease hurled two foam wrapped weights, on differing vectors, at his opponents back. Nahdar only had time to block one of the incoming projectiles, especially as Ori used the distraction to execute a picture perfect Makashi thrust into the Mon Cal's thigh the single weight that had hit the Mon Cal Padawan having enough mass to push his landing into Ori’s range.  
  
“Ori, this is sparring practice, Force skills are later in the day,” Skrath called out before the Knight monitoring the spar could get involved. “Focus on your saber skills, you need the practice.”  
  
“I had wondered why you allowed Ori to continue to use Niman, beyond the minor fact that a lightsaber style is an intensely personal choice that is, but I can see why now. A bit much for a simple sparring match, but good for Nahdar in the long run…” Kit gently rebuked the Investigator and narrowed his wide eyes a bit. With all the excitement stirred up lately, he was on the lookout for more information and Skrath was a readily available source, if he could be induced to talk that is. He did have a reputation for staying silent on investigative reports even after they were made public, which could present a problem. “Any clue why Ori’s left hand kept going for his hip every time they locked sabers?”  
  
“Yes,” Skrath answered with a grimace. He had foolishly hoped that little detail would somehow go unnoticed by the blade master. “Ori has a tendency to carry a blaster, or two, with him in the field, and when a saber is locked…”  
  
“He thinks it’s the perfect time to shoot,” Kit couldn’t help the chuckle which escaped him at that revelation. Underhanded though the tactic might be, it was perfectly in keeping with the mindset of an investigator; they tended to value getting the job done over the form of things. “Not exactly the Jedi way, but effective when used correctly. Probably best to have a few words with him when this is over, a discussion on the various types of sparring is in order. I take it he’s ambidextrous?"  
  
Ori, having helped Nahdar off the ground with his right hand chose that moment to answer the question by switching to his left with his saber as the next round started. This time he didn’t let the older mon cal set the pace, opening with a blisteringly fast series of slashes, forcing Nahdar back. Kit couldn’t contain his frown as he noted his Padawan struggling, his footwork was a mess and Ori wasn’t giving him time to reposition to correct the problem. Off balance, and deprived of the acrobatics by that fact, Nahdar didn’t last long. Ori quickly earned the next point with a slash under Nahdar’s guard as he stumbled, no Force tricks needed. Or at least no obvious Force tricks, Skrath narrowed his eyes and glanced at Master Fisto, noting that he had seemingly missed the tiny surges in the Force which indicated Ori was still using it for advantage. Admittedly they were minuscule in the greater scheme of things, they could have been covered up by Master Mundi’s presence. Or maybe those pulses are normal and you need some sparring practice yourself when the test is over, Skrath thought ruefully. In any case, Skrath was grateful for Kit's silence on the subject, a discussion on the ethics of sparring was the last thing he needed grabbing his already strained attention.  
  
“His primary is Jar’Kai,” Skrath said evenly. From what he was seeing, Nahdar wasn’t the Padawan he wanted. His Master might very well be exactly what Skrath needed but Nahdar… He was older and reputed to be angling for a Guardian assignment, despite his focus on healing, yet he was not keeping up with Ori in the ring despite the pressure Skrath and Mundi were applying. Skrath's focus slipped as he realized the vast chasm between the technical skillsets of the two padawans and the strangely certain feeling that Ori would dominate in any real fight between the two. Skrath shook his head slightly to rid himself of the wayward thought as the unplanned reprieve was allowing Ori to sense just where the pressure on him had been coming from, which could be a problem in the long term. “Is Nahdar always this…”  
  
“No,” Kit’s nose widened in irritation as he said that, obviously focusing on his own Padawan for the moment. “Unfortunately, he has absorbed the more recent sentiments going around the Order that only the Guardians are active in the galaxy. You would think that by being my Padawan, he would have dispelled that myth years ago… but for some reason it has persisted in his mind. He feels the need to prove himself as more than a healer, leading to an unhealthy fascination with conflict. The contradictory impulses have been giving him issues since he became my Padawan, there are times I wish he was more like Bant. Of course, I didn’t handle her initial training, so it very well might be that this is just a stage he needs to work through before he settles down on an appropriate path.”  
  
“That is a trend I have noticed recently. Far too many of the Knights, and even a few of the Masters I have met with in the past couple of weeks seem to think that being active in the galaxy is enough to mark one as a Guardian. They completely ignore the modes of thought and philosophical precepts which are supposed to be the foundation for the path.” Skrath expressed his disapproval absentmindedly. Ori had reached out in the Force, and Mundi had responded by flaring his Force presence in a complex pattern in response. Skrath’s attention was so focused on the silent grappling match he didn’t watch his words as carefully as he should have. “I fear there has been too much emphasis placed on the Consular ways of thought in the creche; we are in danger of losing our dynamism to a monoculture.”  
  
“I wouldn’t say that,” Kit replied with an affronted surprise that quickly melted into confusion as his nose picked up on the Investigator's distraction. Kit vacillated on extending his Force senses to confirm Skrath's emotions since outright reminding others of a Nautolan's sense of smell was oftentimes detrimental to relationships, but then rejected it as being equally rude. Kit realized he was overthinking and simply replied,“These things come in waves, the Consular modes of operating are popular for the moment, but that will pass in time and the over reaction which will inevitably come will let us regain our balance.”  
  
“Will it? You need a foundation to build off of, and I met a single Knight with a true Guardian mindset in my interviews so far,” Skrath’s reply contained a complex web of conflicting emotions. This was a conversation he wanted to have, but he couldn’t afford to let his focus slip at the moment.

  
“Yes, your recent actions,” Kit knew an opportunity when it presented itself. “You are looking for a small expedition or a multi Jedi mission to attach yourself to, I had wondered why.”  
  
“Because Ori is more work then I thought he would be, and with the restrictions being placed on certain systems, I have a limited pool of missions to pull from.” Skrath shrugged, acting as if he was uncaring, but Kit could smell the tension roiling below his skin. He didn’t mention the testing they were doing on his Padawan, or how it would likely require him to move outside of the Temple for a time when it was completed. Ori would need to become more comfortable in his skin after the test was concluded or his paranoia would go into overdrive every time he was in the Temple. Master Mundi understood that, and had thrown his weight behind Skrath's request for an exemption. “I thought it best to get the more instructional portion of Ori’s apprenticeship taken care before we returned to active duty and I began to instruct him on the specifics.”  
  
“Not to mention you wanted him to grow up a bit,” Kit smiled knowingly.  
  
"Yes," Skrath let the comment pass, there was no reason to enlighten Kit as to all the purposes behind the mission, a primary one being finding a suitable 'default' cover Ori could fall back on for investigations since Ori's idea of being a smuggler or rogue as a default made Master Windu's suggestion of shaving his head very attractive. Worse, the 'easy' cover for most all other twi'lek Investigators of the 'forgettable slave' was a non starter for Ori. Yoda would have an easier time pulling off that cover, Skrath thought in despairing amusement.  
  
“Your own thoughts on the match?” Skrath asked, putting aside the distracting thoughts.  
  
“Get after Ori about his footwork,” Kit said turning his eyes back to the unfolding match. Nahdar had finally found his stride and was pressing Ori hard. He was bouncing on the attack, coming at the younger twi’lek from odd angles and making Ataru work for him. Ori might be gamely defending, but his chosen style was showing its weaknesses, and not just the reputed one against blaster fire. The need to deflect blows away from him was pulling Ori off his center, allowing openings to develop in his guard, and Kit was sure Nahdar would find one soon. "Also work with him on his grip strength. I know most Jedi who use Niman don’t bother, but Ori seems to disdain using two hands for the more powerful moves in the style. His demonstration of his talent for Telekinesis explains that, but it is a weakness any knowledgeable opponent will exploit. Better grip strength will also give him a bit more leeway when working defense against blaster fire; Nahdar has been driving Ori’s saber off its best line for this latest point and it is having the same effect as Ori’s earlier demonstration of just why an Ataru user needs to have perfect balance. If Ori was even just a bit stronger then what Nahdar is doing wouldn’t work, but…”  
  
“I will make note of it,” Skrath eyed the match with interest, trying to see exactly what Kit saw. While he might be a Makashi practitioner when he had a saber in hand, the truth was that Skrath rarely used his saber in combat; it had seen more use as a door opener than as a weapon for the past couple of years. Ever since he had ascended to being a senior Padawan his missions had been more focused on behind the scenes action then the more up-front style which denizens of the galaxy expected from a Jedi.  
  
“Still, it is an impressive performance for such a fresh Padawan, especially one who wasn’t noted for his skill with a blade during his initiate years…” Kit shook his head and watched as Nahdar scored his first point of the match by pulling Ori’s saber out of position and sending a deceptively slow slash through his guard to touch along the Twi’Lek’s upper arm. The two Padawans offered the standard gestures of reconciliation, and Ori said something to Nahdar causing him to laugh as they made their way back to the center of the ring. Then the final point of the match began to play out, slowly. Both Padawans were flagging at this point, their energy largely expended. Ori was doing better than Nahdar in this regard, his chosen form was far less energy intensive and he had a distinct tendency to switch to a more conservative style of saber play seemingly at random times. Kit would have said it had something to do with the blazing presence of Master Mundi, who seemed to be orbiting the sparring gym, probably having a long discussion with someone while they walked, but possibly not coincidentally, Ori would almost always go into his more defensive mode just before Mundi reached the nadir of his orbiting walk. “You might want to suggest that Ori look into Djem So and Shien further then he has. He has a tendency to favor the Niman derived moves from Makashi, Djem So, and Shien over all others. The Makashi exercises you have shown him have given him a better base to build off of when he uses its derivatives; there is a notable difference of skill between when he uses Makashi derivatives and when he uses the others. I'd recommend working with the original form V to bolster his style. Finally, keep up the endurance training you have been doing, I think it's going to be decisive for the last point in this match and certainly is vital when you are out in the galaxy. I’m going to have to work with Nahdar on that, he seems to have been neglecting his training there.”  
  
“It could be he is overloaded,” Skrath pointed out, thinking of his own problems. “Force knows I have issues keeping Ori from taking on too much at once. He tends to find a project and run with it while neglecting to practice what he already knows. Any general advice? Ori is my first Padawan and I want to do right by him, I’m a bit worried by my lack of experience.”  
  
“I would say trust in the Force,” Kit had to chuckle at the expression on Skrath's face. The look of disgust was just too comical not to. “More seriously, you have resources, use them. Master Tulgree is back in the Temple, for who knows what. Consult with him for advice. Perhaps even allow him to meet with your Padawan and evaluate the situation for himself. You might have to worry about his sense of humor infecting your Padawan, bawdy jokes and ribald comments do tend to multiply exponentially when uttered aloud, but I have a feeling that after years of dealing with it when you were a Padawan, it is a lesser problem for you than it would be for another Knight. Your idea about getting involved with multiple Masters is a good one, but don’t count on it to solve all of your problems."  
  
“Master Tulgree has been in consultations with Master Nu,” Skrath said with a sour look on his face. “Due to what happened on Rothana… she's been hounding me for a more thorough report.”  
  
“And you're avoiding dear Jocasta,” Kit smirked at Skrath's uncomfortable expression. “She can be a bit much when her archives are proven to be incomplete. Speaking of Rothana, what did you find out there that has the Council in such a tizzy? Between the new instructions to make our reports in person and not over the Hypercom and the advisory that recommended Padawans who were more then a year or two away from graduation not enter certain systems, the entire Order has been awash in rumors. I would normally just distill the rumors to their kernel of truth, but Nahdar and myself have a mission to look over the Judicial Forces hospitals and I don’t have the time.”  
  
“Problems,” Skrath said shortly, watching the developing final point below to give himself time to think. Nahdar had fallen back on Shii-Cho, and was clearly nearing exhaustion; the direction of his looping strikes clearly broadcast and parried or avoided. Mundi had stopped walking and Skrath could feel him just outside the salle, his Force presence flared to pressure Ori. The response was predictable, Ori was matching Nahdar’s Shii-Cho with the Djem So inspired parts of Niman. He clearly had the blocking and deflecting parts of those moves down, but his ripostes were out of position and ineffective. It didn’t help that Skrath could see where Ori was tensing to go for a Makashi style response after a block and then deliberately choosing not to, the time he took to think was allowing Nahdar to get back into position. Something had him distracted and his aborted glances showed Skrath that he was aware, or almost so, of where the pressure on him was coming from. Whether this was a sign of prescience would be up to Master Mundi to interpret since Mundi's further explanation of the technicals of the condition had just made Skrath's head spin and the Master had mostly just instructed him on how to conduct the test and observe the results such that he could report them correctly later.  
  
“Perhaps a bit of work on your Padawan's focus wouldn’t be amiss as well,” Kit commented, interrupting Skrath's train of thought. “He seems rather distracted at the moment. I would wager that time in the Temple around less familiar Force signatures might do him some good. Being able to split your concentration is a useful skill, but he isn’t a good enough swordsman to do that yet.”  
  
Nahdar had gone on what looked like a last ditch offensive and was driving Ori back, although it didn’t look to Skrath like he had the upper hand. Ori might be defensive for the moment, but that was because he was allowing it. His twitching right hand indicated he was restraining himself from throwing things at the other Padawan to drive him back. He realized with a start that Kit was probably misreading the match, that despite his distracted state Ori was setting the pace of the match, in letting Nahdar tire himself further and buying time. Given that Kit wasn’t aware of the test though it was understandable he thought Ori just distracted, and not acting purposefully. Although for the life of him Skrath couldn’t decide if Ori’s actions were the indicators he was looking for and sincerely hoped Mundi could make sense of his observations.  
  
As the blades clashed Skrath decided to let the Force guide him in how to answer Kit, and what to do about his Padawan. Kit had raised Jocasta Nu and her relentless pursuit of information, so he should start with that. Letting the Librarian's desires into the test might just be the thing to throw Ori off if he was simply using his sensing skills rather then prescience; after all her desires had nothing to do with the test, so they would come out of seemingly nowhere. Doing so would move up the time table, but if what Mundi had said the last time they talked was still true, then the two of them were treading water at the moment. There were too many variables, and while the pressure was substantial it was still not enough to push Ori off his course and into responding to the test. And perhaps bringing in Aayla’Secura would jump the pressure even further, push Ori to use the skill he had developed in repelling the Force in front of other Masters who could be convinced to document it for Master Nu, and just might be enough to conclude the test with a definitive answer. Although... maybe that was taking things too far; much as he wanted answers, one way or another, Ori’s safety was more important than getting those answers.  
  
The question of what to tell Kit was easier for him to think on, his inclination was to not say anything, but the Master did need some information. The Council hadn’t been able to put the nerf back into the pen on much of his Initial report on Rothana, but in his estimation had taken adequate measures to lock down subsequent reports. Putting the information that the Force could be twisted over a span of an entire star system wasn’t something that most Jedi should know, they would be tempted to poke at it with disastrous results. The incident at Kuat made that painfully clear.  
  
“There are…” Skrath started slowly, picking his words with care. “Entire systems in which using the Force is becoming… problematic. Less experienced Padawans have been led astray, with disastrous results, and so the Council is practicing caution where they can.”  
  
“Kuat.” Kit replied flatly, his Force presence hardening to display the Master Jedi he was rather then the inveterate joker he had been for most of this conversation. “I heard about that.”  
  
“Exactly,” Skrath nodded in agreement. “The situation was made worse when it was discovered that one of the premier Kuatii design teams was having a meeting there when the incident happened. That is well out of my wheelhouse, so I don’t need to get involved in that mess, thank the Force.”  
  
“Any advice, if I do find something like that?” Kit asked frowning. According to the reports he had access to the Padawan had become disoriented on final approach and then thought that he was being waived off by Kuat control. His acceleration just so happened to take him directly into a habitation block when he had pulled out of the flight path. Between Kuat orbital control screaming at him, and his Master getting his hands on the controls, disaster had barely been averted. When interrogated about the incident the badly shaken Padawan had said that he had suddenly become dizzy looking at his controls and readouts and both his Master and Controller Forbla’s speech had become unintelligible garble, thus he's started using the Force to guide him to the landing pad... And while Kit had experienced a Force drift of some metres while on a mission in the Deep Core, he'd never heard of the Force being so off before, and that worried him immensely.  
  
“Be careful, especially with your Padawan,” Skrath’s voice was low, and Kit could smell his worry. “Double check everything, and don’t let false certainty fool you into forgoing the checks. Whatever is happening is insidious, you don’t notice until your concentration is disrupted. Beyond that I can’t offer much advice, my own path is less dangerous than yours when I encounter such disruptions. My training emphasizes skills which are safer to use in areas where the Force is disrupted or strongly aligned with the Dark side.”  
  
“Interesting,” Kit commented, keeping his opinion to himself. Skraths advice was boilerplate, aside from his nod towards the Sentinel roots of his training. Kit would have to discover just what was going on himself it seemed, those in the know were remarkably resistant to talking about it. Given his own mastery of the Force he wasn’t too worried about it for himself, he would just need to keep a closer eye on his Padawan when they were off Coruscant. Presumably by then the entire affair would be cleared up and everything could get back to normal. The match end chime brought Kit back to the matter at hand, with Ori scoring the final point and he sighed with no small amount of chagrin. He was going to have to work with Nahdar on his saber forms, this match showing his weaknesses all too clearly. He should have been able to dominate in the ring just based on the two Padawan's choices of form, that he hadn’t was an indication he had let his saber skills slip more then Kit was comfortable with. Sure, Mundi’s Force presence was a distraction, suffusing the room for the entire match, but it wasn’t one which should have thrown Nahdar off this badly.

* * *

For the first time since arriving back on Coruscant and despite everything, Ori's mood was on the upswing, the sense of accomplishment at having 'passed' the medical... or 'medical' in Ki Adi Mundi's case... testing gauntlet and getting a day of free time washing away most all of the paranoia the tests themselves had generated. Ori knew that satisfaction wasn't all 'his,' but then neither was the paranoia for once and so he was taking what he could get and thought back to the tests themselves. The 'pokes and prods' from Mundi on the first day of the test had clearly been the same diagnostic techniques the Healers used, but his throwaway line of there being an "Observation period" had touched nerves seemingly both 'inside' and 'outside.' The next day had seen his Master begin to apply pressure on him through the Force while Mundi hovered out of sight; Ori imagined himself as a fox before the hounds and evaded the trap even as the metaphor disturbed him enormously. Bad things happened to the fox that got caught. But so it went, each day bringing different pressures from one or both of them, forcing him to call on, and refrain from calling on, the Force to evade the hazards and bad ends he could feel being set before him.  
  
Ori put up with it for a week, figuring that he'd freaked Skrath out more than he'd let on with his rejection of the Force. But there was a limit to his tolerance, and that threshold had been crossed yesterday during his spar with Nahdar. He shouldn't have won that match. Under normal circumstances it would've been mightily impressive to score a single point against the senior Padawan, but after a week of needing minutes, hours or even, in one particular instance, over two days to wriggle out from under the pressure Kri and Mundi were applying, the match against Nahdar was like the hundredth replay of Orbital Velocity... it had been more difficult figuring out when to 'throw' a point to his opponent than it was to win. But in stomping Nahdar, he'd managed to divert a huge amount of the pressure Ki Adi and Skrath were exerting onto Kit Fisto, turning the irate blade master into an unwitting ally who'd chewed Mundi out publicly after recovering from the migraine both he and his Padawan suffered from the sudden release of that pressure post match.  
  
Just like that, however, the differences between this life and the last could sneak up on him at the oddest moments, usually putting him out of sorts for hours. Music was the big one, he hadn’t found any of the genres he had enjoyed in his last life. Everything in this galaxy seemed to follow the lead of either a jazz style or an ambient electronica, neither of which were to his tastes. Fiction was even worse! Whether prose, poetry, holos or the narratives of plot driven video games, the themes and plot elements were all over the map, and the morality of the tales that were written down were off. It was like trying to read a Chinese novel with no understanding of the culture or endnotes, utterly frustrating and confusing with the pay off being non existent and him not understanding the end. Fortunately, clothing could be found that was comfortable.  
  
Whenever he got the chance to get out of the Temple one of the first things Ori would do was to ditch the uncomfortable robes that Jedi seemed addicted too and get into a more comfortable get up. Admittedly his khaki cargo pants and plain black undershirt made him look a bit low class, but he didn’t care. Besides they were perfectly functional, and allowed him to move enough that he hadn’t needed to change before spending a couple of hours with Romi Quellist, the retired senatorial commando who he had found for instruction outside of the Temple, working on his unarmed combat skills. There hadn’t been enough warning to set up a tactical blaster lesson as well, but those were the breaks. Not everything could be perfect after all.  
  
Still the hours of repetitive katas, followed by short bouts of Ori being thrown around the mats, had been good for him. He was sore in that just finished exercising way, and aside from the lingering sentiments, the Force had been quiet and unneeded the entire day. It had been just his skills on display, none of the tricks he used when he was sparring with another Jedi, let alone the monumental efforts against Nahdar, Ori had even managed to find a street vendor selling something that was a dead ringer for candied ginger, though they called it something else. He happily munched on it as he made his way through the crowded street towards the neon sign which advertised the range he had been going to for years.  
  
Romi had introduced him to the old sephi named Vormir who ran the place, and been kind enough not to mention that he was a Jedi. It had long provided a safe haven from the galaxy, a place to go when things got to be just a little too much for him. Shooting had been an activity he had enjoyed in his past life and he had been pleased to find it was just as enjoyable to shoot a blaster as it had been to shoot a slug thrower. Firing at targets always cleared his head and allowed him to really think about problems, like what he was going to do about his Jedi status and the implications of the test, without interference. Ori pushed the door open with a flourish and ducked into the dimly lit shop, a shiver of anticipation going up his spine.  
  
“Been a while Ori,” Vormir said as soon as he recognized who had come through his door. He ran his experienced eyes over the young twi’lek and was pleased to see he was in good health, he hadn't seen Ori in over a month and worried about the kid. Most of his customers were members of the Senate Guard, with a nice leavening of private and planetary security that the Senators themselves brought, and sprinkled with the occasional youngling who was at the range for beginner lessons. Ori was an anomaly, always courteous, friendly and respectful, but intensely private and having the knowledge to defend against the basic searches he'd attempted out of curiosity's sake; Vormir thought that maybe he was the son of skilled slicers who wanted him to be able to protect himself against more immediately physical threats. It would certainly explain Romi's odd introduction, and his almost offhand advice not to look into his background. He had tried to interest the twi’lek in more legitimate paths for his skills but had so far been unsuccessful.  
  
“I was off world, family business you understand,” Ori replied evenly. He liked the sephi, even if he was constantly leaving pamphlets about the glories of the Senate Guard and other law enforcement agencies around for him to find. He meant well and was pleasant to deal with. “Had a contract, which was interesting, but for the moment I’m free so I thought I would get in some range time.”  
  
“Adjusting to a new piece?”  
  
“Yeah, found it in the Outer Rim. DC-15s blaster pistol, supposedly it's part of a new package of small arms for the Judiciary that’s coming down the hyper lane in the next couple of years.”  
  
“Interesting,” Vormir scratched at his prominent widow’s peak. He knew that the kit the Judiciary used was getting to be a bit dated, but none of his contacts in the industry had hinted about anything like this being in the works. “Mind if I take a look?”  
  
“Have at it,” Ori popped the power cell out of his blaster, checked the charge, and handed it over by the barrel. “So far it’s been pretty good, but I don’t have much time on it so I can’t say much for the reliability.”  
  
“Blastech produced, so that’s not much of a worry. They do good work.” Vormir replied as he closely examined the pistol. He could see minor faults in it due to the nature of it being such an early production run, mostly the lack of adaptability. Blaster smiths like himself were going to have a bitch of a time replacing the grips to better suit the owners. The placement of the grip screws was idiosyncratic, probably indicating an expanded Tibanna reserve, meaning he would need to either adapt the grips he had in stock or custom make new ones. “Looks like it'll be a solid general issue weapon, though customizing it is going to be a bit… bit of an issue. How much time do you have on it?”  
  
“Not enough. I had noticed the grip, but it works well enough for the moment.”  
  
“Of course, it does, you still will need that replaced if you’re going to be doing real shooting. It’s good enough as a standardized piece of kit, but when your life depends on it…”  
  
“I know,” Ori grimaced as he said that. He had heard variations on the theme ever since he had started to come here. Outside of professionals for whom blasters were a tool of the trade, Vormir saw them as your last line of defense, he wanted you to have the best because your survival might just depend on it. Ori on the other hand didn’t want his blasters to be traceable. It was all too likely he would have to discard one over the course of a mission and having it tracked back to his life outside of the Temple could be problematic. “I need more range time before I can say either way.”  
  
“No one’s in range two so you’ll have it to yourself,” Vormir handed the blaster back, repressing his frown at Ori’s choice. He knew the reasoning why Ori was so resistant to customizing his blaster, but if he could convince the young man to go through with it there was a chance he would choose not to shoot when put into a disadvantaged position. He wasn’t stupid after all, and knowing his blaster could be traced would make it less likely for him to use it. “Take lane ten, that should give you enough space even if I get a few more shooters in.”  
  
“Appreciated,” Ori grinned, relaxation here he came.  
  
“Did you bring extra power packs?” Vormir quirked an eyebrow, he knew Ori was prone to forgetting to bring as much ammo as he needed to really cut loose. He had never seen the young twi’lek bring more than two power packs when he came in to shoot, despite usually going through three.  
  
“Nope,” Ori shrugged as he admitted that. Keeping extra power packs at the Temple was a pain in the ass, Ruusan vintage regulations dictating that extra firearms ammunition be stored in one of the Temple's armories rather than being allowed in personal quarters. He'd read the story behind it, some idiot knight whose name had been scrubbed in embarrassment who'd thought she was the Force's avatar of sniping storing a pile of supposedly spent packs next to her space heater... and Ori hadn't needed precognition to predict the end of that story. It still didn't lessen the sting of feeling like a millennia later he was being punished for her stupidity. “Four would do me I think.”  
  
“Long session?”  
  
“Stuff to think on,” Ori shrugged. “I need the distraction.”  
  
“You always do,” Vormir placed the requested power packs on the counter, noting how Ori swept them into his belt pouch with practiced ease. That they fit so perfectly told him that the pouch was designed to hold extra ammo. It seemed that he wasn’t the only being who wanted the teenager to think before he opened fire, his parents were just going about it in a way he disapproved of. “Like I said, lane ten, you know the way.”  
  
“Keeping an eye out for the idiots in range one?”  
  
“Two new shooters,” Vormir couldn’t restrain the shudder of horror he had at that. Whenever there was a new shooter on the range, he was grateful for the extra armor plating between the first lanes and even more so between Range One and his office. While most new shooters were at least somewhat respectful of the deadly weapons they held, some were... not... and while he couldn't afford to be picky, he'd developed an eye to pick out the ones who would be trouble long ago. “Their parents are with them, just makes me grateful that they choose to teach their younglings themselves rather than paying for lessons. Romi may have the patience to teach, but Force knows I don’t.”  
  
“Then stop offering lessons,” Ori called over his shoulder as he ducked into the range, the door closing off any rejoinder that Vormir could have made. A smile split his face as he inhaled through his nose, the scent wasn’t the comforting stench of cordite, but a more ozone scent. For him it was still a comfort, even as it stung his nose, this was a place of safety for him. He made his way to the shooting booth and began the boot up process for the droid controller while laying out his power packs. He checked the connection ports on each one, a mindless action that he had repeated hundreds of times, letting his ingrained reflexes work while he calmed his mind and got into the mindset he wanted for shooting. It was harder than it had been in his last life, but still possible, the well worn grooves of familiarity allowing him to think clearly without any effort.  
  
“TDG-10 online,” The Vocoder of the booth’s controller had a slight reverb to it. Vormir hadn’t bothered to fix that since he had last been here, another point of familiarity. “Targeting selection?”  
  
“Holographic, spacing level five to start, advance one level after every ten shots. Report at end of session.” Ori’s instructions were curt, there was no reason to bother engaging this droid in conversation, it was too simple.  
  
“Acknowledged.”  
  
He easily brought the blaster up into a two-handed grip and sited down the iron sites, waiting patiently for the first target to appear. When it did, he dispatched it with a single bolt, moving on to the next in an easy rhythm, letting himself focus on the site picture and nothing else. The mindset was close to meditative, although he never had as much fun when he was meditating. His single shots rang out, dispatching the targets as soon as they popped up, calming him. He let his mind wander as he fired off his shots with almost mechanical precision.  
  
Ori's thoughts settled down, calming as he set about annihilating the holographic targets. It had taken years of work, but he was to the point where he could consistently dispatch even the most hardened or evasive targets with a single bolt, which was pleasing. This was a skill he would need if he wanted to survive in this galaxy, besides just being fun. With his thoughts calm and collected, he started thinking about his wider problems, trying to bring them into perspective and get an idea of how he wanted to act. He could just go with the flow, but knowing what he did? He wasn’t suicidal.  
  
He was in a delicate position at the moment, his hopes of disappearing into the galaxy dashed by his own arrogance, and by Jedi procedure. The simple training and philosophies the Order taught to younglings and initiates had largely conformed to the knowledge base of his first life, and he realized his slicing into the archives had just led him to all the esoteric and often considered wildly eccentric Masters who shared a very roughly familiar perspective of the Force to him when he squinted really hard. This wasn't out of confirmation bias; even though looking back, that's exactly what it had achieved, he thought ruefully, but for sake of comprehension. Eccentrics who knew they were eccentric tended to provide a lot of contextual background to explain where their reasoning was leading rather than assuming the reader was fully versed on the subject and terminology. Most of the more advanced 'mainstream' texts on the other hand did make that assumption and thus he'd blithely skipped over them as not important. He had been so certain he knew most everything important there was to know about the Force when he'd passed the Initiate Trials; his first mission out in the real world had thoroughly disabused him of that notion. Sure, being able to pick up an entire skill set as needed was useful, but if he didn’t have control then he was going to broadcast his position to all of the skilled hunters that the Empire would have.  
  
Worse, his unpreparedness in dealing with the Force outside of the familiar constancy of Coruscant would be the lesser of his issues if he decided to cut and run. The mundane things like space heater regulation and the Order actually being a complex bureaucracy would trip him up even more effectively. For while the Jedi as an organization might have issues of political corruption and bureaucratic ossification, they weren’t stupid or paralyzed. One of the standard parts of the medical exam all padawans got when they were assigned their Master, or to one of the service corps, was a genetic test. They said it was so that the medical Jedi would know your baseline in case you came into contact with one of the many mutagenic compounds that were out there. Ori was privately certain that while that was part of the reason for the sample, graves registration had more to do with it then anything else. Doing a Jedi’s job was dangerous, and there was no guarantee that your corpse, should it be recovered, would be in any way recognizable. Having a sample on hand meant that the Temple could confirm your death, or keep looking should they need to.  
  
Unfortunately, Ori wasn’t in a position to slice into that database. The medical network the temple Healers used was the most closely guarded part of the Order's network, it was actually on a stand-alone system rather than being linked and non Healer access to anything other than one's own record took documents like Council warrants. In studying the system, Ori had again run into an old and painful scandal as the reason for it, this time involving political grudges and sexual affairs between long dead Council members. And since personal medical records were far more accessed and in demand than ancient Sith Holocrons and the like, the network was based on a commercial system and had its own IT department complete with Jedi Healers trained to guard it from their fellow Jedi trying to attempt the very things he would have to do. Ori in one of his most despondent moments had thought of frying all the temple's networks using the Coruscant power grid in a rough analogue to Die Hard, but then Hans Gruber and his team had lost to one John McClain. Him being one Hans Gruber against a building full of John McClains... well... the image of it had snapped him out of his despondency right quick. But even if he went even further in granting himself success in that venture of despairing madness...  
  
Sidious was still out there, and despite the roadblock Ori had served up by pushing the Upholder project into being, the Sith lord was in an excellent position to take advantage of any chaos in the Temple. He was a problem which Ori doubted he could do more than mitigate against. Especially given how his information was more then a decade out of date, and from conflicting sources. The Movies were clear enough about what happened, but… especially at the end of the series, the production team had decided to explain things in secondary media he hadn’t bothered to read. The buzzing of his blaster telling him it was low on power interrupted his thoughts.  
  
“Reset,” Ori stated flatly, even as he absentmindedly changed the power pack and took up a single-handed stance.  
  
“Acknowledged, accuracy for the last round was one hundred percent,” TDG-10 buzzed out.  
  
Ori just nodded, acknowledging the information, as he began to shoot again. It was easy to fall into the familiar rhythm, taking unconscious action, while letting his mind wander. Trying to put the facts he had into a coherent whole before he came to a decision on what to do. He knew that the Order was fractured, Lucas may have fallen down on showing it in the prequels right up until the finale, but he had. The infamous sequence were the clones go through the Temple, shooting younglings and padawans as they go, and the camera pans to through the wall to show a cadre of blue bladed Guardians led by Pong Krell turning on their green bladed compatriots had been cinematically powerful. It had shown the Emperor's expanding influence in a slow moving, visually arresting, depiction of slaughter. Knowing what was supposed to happen, Ori just needed to figure out how it came to be, and how-to short circuit the event.  
  
He wasn’t going to be able to completely win, he knew that, Palpatine was too good at what he did and had the benefit of a millennium of Sith planning. Ori didn’t know where, or even if there was evidence that could shine through the growing Dark side veil. His options came down to disappearing completely to a world where no one would ever look like Dagobah when the Clone Wars started, and maybe trying to rebuild later, or starting a reform movement in the Order. Disappearing looked more attractive at first blush, right up until he thought about where he would have to disappear to, Ori couldn’t see himself doing that now. He was growing to like the Jedi he interacted with and leaving them to die without doing anything didn’t sit well with him. His mind flashed to the corpse of Jocasta Nu, slashed down in her beloved archives, when she had tried to defend a class of initiates from the dead eyed Guardians. No, he wouldn't accept that.  
  
The problem was Ori sucked at politics. He could see where the reformers before him had made their mistakes, but actually executing a political plan? That would mean talking with people, convincing them that he had the right idea, and he wasn’t sure if he could do that. He had the knowledge, but he just wasn’t sure if he could be that convincing. Dooku had the same reforms in mind, or at least a reasonable facsimile of them, and he hadn’t managed to get anything done. Of course, his abrasive and arrogant manner had turned just about everyone away from him, but could Ori really say his own paranoid and secretive manner was any better? Sure, he wouldn’t make the mistake of trying to order everyone around like they were his subordinates, a facet of his personality Ori had enjoyed watching in the Clone Wars cartoons, but could Ori really do any better when he could barely bring himself to command the Force, let alone other people?  
  
Perhaps the example of Qui-Gon Jinn would be better? No, he had failed due to his embrace of the Living Force, living in the moment far too much to build anything like a movement among the Jedi. He had clashed with the council, but he had become distracted too quickly to spread his ideals. Spread his ideals, that thought resonated in Ori’s head. What he needed wasn’t to lead a movement, but to spark one. That he could do, he just needed to find the right people to talk too. Before he could get further along on that thought his blaster again interrupted his thoughts. It needed to be fed again.  
  
“Reset,” Ori said aloud, switching hands and slapping another power pack into the blaster. He was shooting quite a bit today, and would need to refill the Tibanna reserves after this.  
  
“Acknowledged, accuracy was at ninety percent.”  
  
“Low,” Ori grunted in irritation. It seemed he would need to spend more time working on his one-handed shooting. As if he didn’t have enough to do, between Skrath pushing him on his Force and Saber skills, and his own extracurricular interests, Ori’s time was being eaten by a black hole. Sparking a reform movement would require someone else to do most all of the political work. He just needed to find that someone first. In his mind he could see a flash of another twi’lek, it was almost like a negative so he couldn’t identify her, but the image stuck. It was a nice image, but he didn’t know enough twi’leks in the order to be sure if it was just a half remembered still from one of his clanmate's art projects or if it was a Force vision. He took a deep breath and resumed shooting, pushing the thoughts of Force visions from his mind forcibly. Today was his day off, he didn’t want to deal with the Force's bullshit. If it kept this up, he was going to be demonstrating his rejection technique real soon, Ori silently promised himself.  
  
First thing was to attack from the bottom up, masters were usually set in their ways and not inclined to take direction from those who had a lesser rank then them. He would need to start working on padawans and newly minted knights, perhaps Shaak Ti? She had always come across as level headed, even her trusting nature could work to his advantage. If he could gain her trust, she would be a damn good advocate for the cause. Especially if she still ascended to the Council with the death of Yaddle. Then again, he was changing things, so Yaddle might not end up dying. Who knew where the butterflies would flap?  
  
Slowly Ori began to see the outlines of a plan forming. He would need to talk with other padawans, just to get a sense of where they stood, and then push them towards his view on life, the universe, and everything. Ruusan was the easiest avenue of attack, a lot of the provisions were breaking down and he could blame the elevation of Quist's writings to near dogmatic gospel for much of what was wrong with the order today. If he couched it in terms of a long-delayed push back against the Senate, well, that would fit with the politics of today. The best part of this bare bones plan was all he needed to do was go along with what Skrath wanted. Going with the flow was easy enough.  
  
There were some steps he would have to take in preparation, while the Altisian sect was too small to serve as a counter point to the mainstream Order at the moment, that could be easily changed thanks to the ever growing stigma attached to the service corps. All he would need to do was include a couple of primers on them in the service corps next general update. It would serve to give them new recruits, albeit not the most powerful, and it would get noncombatant Force sensitives out of the line of fire. If they were running around the Galaxy with Altisian Jedi, then they wouldn’t be nearly as vulnerable to the type of mass slaughter which had destroyed them in the movies. A bit of slicing to push the Altisians to create their own network and he would make Sidious’s life far more difficult. Especially given how mobile the Altisian sect was, with further recruits and perhaps a bit of money… no that was something to think on later. Helping them out financially at this point in time just wasn’t possible given the extreme attention the Council would paying to the Order's accounts. Though he would have X-RAD look into the idea.  
  
Another action he could take now was to do a bit a work on the emergency beacon at the temple. A few updated orders… and the Jedi would know to go to ground and at least some of them would avoid the first wave of hunters rather then falling into the Sith’s trap as they tried to make their way home. Now what to focus on first in his arguments with his fellow padawans?  
  
Ori tried to shift his train of thought and only then realized the storm in the Force that had risen around him as the 'inertia' of the future yet to come ][ future yet undone, slammed into his 'back.' Hundreds of images flooded in, some faint outlines tinged in red, some half developed, and some so close to being real he could hear the Clone Wars Narrator introducing him to the plot. He saw the twi'lek from earlier in a heated argument with another padawan over Ruusan. He saw Kit Fisto and Shaak Ti in a sparring ring... although this one was fading to nothingness. Ganjay Tulgree and another Jedi he didn’t know, their heads close together as they poured over a set of plans. An Echani, double bladed light pike fully deployed, standing in front of what looked like corporate security, defiantly gesturing at them to come and get it. Ori gritted his teeth savagely, for all that he'd never begrudged his fellow Jedi for having nothing but positive experiences with the Force, this Maelstrom was the Force HE'D awakened to twelve years ago, this was the Force that had blindsided HIM on Rothana while he was too deep in the Calm Light to do more than dive further into that Calmness. Now, however, his grimace turned into a snarl of determination as he gathered his thoughts around the core of his being and PUSHED, the images pouring in turning into a morass of abstraction, contradiction and nonsense as he halted the flow of the Force and then turned it against itself, using the anti-flow to close the 'doors' to his self, and just like that, it was over.  
  
It might be a fundamental force of nature in this galaxy, but if Ori refused to bow to it like a good little slave, he sure as hell would refuse to be swept away like a piece of driftwood. He straightened and looked around, his eyes flashing in irritation, and was relieved to see no one else on the range. He might have felt them come in, but given the Force seemed to have ideas of its own he wasn’t sure. Gently he put down the blaster, ignoring the minor tremor in his hand, and closed his eyes. He needed to not be panicked when he got back to the temple, he needed to be calm and collected, not an emotional mess. What he had seen could not be known, but the possibility that every Force sensitive from Sidious to Yoda might have just witnessed this temporary tempest made him blanch. He needed to get a handle on himself.  
  
Closing his eyes and rubbing his face, Ori forced his emotions into line with ruthless determination. Skrath's training might be painful at times, but for things like this it was exactly what he needed. Knowing his emotions, and their pressure points so much better than even a few months ago gave him a leg up as he forced everything back. Centering himself before he even thought about letting the Force near him. This was going to be a problem going forward, he couldn’t afford to lose it in front of another Jedi. Not to mention he wanted to keep his ability to refuse the Force as a trump card, he wasn’t good enough to truly fight a Darksider, but he had put himself in a position where that was a real possibility. If Skrath was any indication, than pulling this in front of them would be an unpleasant surprise, and would give him a shot.  
  
“End session,” Ori’s voice still sounded ragged, even to himself which meant it was probably ten times worse.  
  
“Ending session, last accuracy reading sixty percent.”  
  
“I’m going to have to work on that,” Ori took a deep breath, and began to gently allow the Force back closer to him out of pure pragmatism. He didn’t allow it to go back to normal, but slowly allowed it to creep closer to him. Gently, ever so gently, he let up the anti-flow allowing it to come back fully. Mechanically he went through his end of range routine, letting that calm him, and put a power pack into his blaster before replacing it in its holster. He frowned as he no noticed that he still had one left, and then pocketed it with a shrug. He wouldn’t be shooting any more today, better to save it for later. Ori was relieved that even as the Force returned it didn’t bombard him with more images. He would retain the clearest ones that had hit him for a long time, they seemed to be burned into his mind. Looking up at the ceiling he took a deep breath and then squared his shoulders. It seemed like today was boom to bust and he could only hope he'd hit the floor.

* * *

“This makes no kriffing sense!” Skrath exclaimed as he stepped back from his desk and stretched. Ori was out of the Temple doing what he called ‘normal people things,’ although Skrath doubted that most normal people would consider going to the range and spending hours working on martial arts normal. This was his first opportunity to look over the data which XRAD had been processing, not that he would end up doing anything with it beyond passing it along. He still felt better about doing so if he looked everything over personally, and pointed out issues that only a trained accountant would see. Far too many of the Investigators would read data like that and sense that it was important but have no idea how to interpret it for their reports. “Take it from the top, if you would.”  
  
“Accounts match down to the deci credit on the Temple side.” XRAD’s vocoder buzzed with annoyance. “Analysis matches expectations, with the pre-recorded unauthorized withdrawn funds excluded.”  
  
“How? Billions of credits don’t just appear out of thin air!” Skrath allowed himself to throw up his hands in exasperation. “If the accounts have the expected amount of credits in them, where did the extras which were supposedly transferred out of these accounts appear from.”  
  
“In the time period specified there was an unusual grouping of fees, but none exceeded a hundred credits.” XRAD stated flatly. “Suggested course of action would be to investigate the bank for fraud, but that does not show where the money came from.”  
  
“Wait…” Skrath felt a nudge through the Force as XRAD spoke. “Hundred credit fees… what does… XRAD what code was used to justify the fees and what code authorized the expenditure, if any?”  
  
“Coding on fees is standard banking clan transfer code, XX151, authorization was general senatorial oversite access when the total of fees topped a thousand credits,” XRAD replied. “Transfer was empty of credits, indicating this was an act of fraud by the bank.”  
  
“No this was politics,” Skrath replied distractedly. He dove for his desk and flipped through his reference books from when he was taking the test for his accounting certificate. It took him a few minutes but he found what he was looking for. XX151, personal account physical transfer of funds on a secured and regular route. The account codes indicated that this was a personal transfer, moving your money from one planet to the next when you switched jobs or the like. Moving money on this scale should have been under CX coding, the commercial variant of that code, and cost substantially more.  
  
“Unable to compute the probabilities, I am an accounting droid not a sociology one,” XRAD replied.  
  
“It would be poli sci, not sociology,” Skrath replied distractedly. He needed to get this information into Master Tulgree's hands yesterday. Something about the method was tickling the back of his mind, but he pushed past that, promising himself he would think on it later. He needed to get the information out first. Finding his com was the easy part, it might be lost in the mess that was his desk but a minor exertion of the Force was all that was needed to pull it to him. No need to waste time searching for it after all.  
  
The more complicated question was just who to call. His first instinct was to go right to the top, call Master Windu and lay out what he had found, but that was the wrong course of action. The Council had already assigned a Master to look into what he had found, his own master. Someone he had been avoiding because of his company. Skrath grimaced and punched the number he knew by heart into the communicator and waited.  
  
“Skrath my boy, how are you?” Tulgree answered, his grin obvious even though this was just a voice call. “You don’t call, you don’t write, I was beginning to think you didn’t love me anymore!”  
  
“Master…” Skrath sighed, hearing the teasing edge in his old master’s voice. Of course, the man wasn’t going to make this easy. “I have been a bit busy with my own Padawan, things are… complicated.”  
  
“They always are, still no reason to lose touch,” Tulgree’s voice carried a slightly reproving edge. “Good catch at Rothana, it made me proud when I heard about it.”  
  
“Thank you master,” Skrath couldn’t help but be buoyed by the praise. It hadn’t been so long ago that he had relied on that praise for his validation. “I found something tangentially related to that and I need some advice about what to do with it.”  
  
“Skrath…” Tulgree’s tone was tinged with exasperation. “I’ll be down shortly, do try and make your living space at least marginally habitable, for your old Masters sake?”  
  
“There’s nothing wrong with my quarters!” Skrath replied, eyes wide, darting around to see if there was anything his master would object too. Fortunately, Ori tended to be neat, so his areas were clean and tidy, the only trace of disorder in the entire apartment was Skrath's desk. Its cover of data pads was excusable though. Still he rose, shutting down XRAD in the process, and took the time to get the dishes put away. He knew better then to leave anything out his Master could comment on, the man would feel obliged to tease him over it. Shutting down XRAD was simpler, heavens only knew what Ori would make of his Master, and he couldn’t be completely sure that any conversation he had in front of the Droid wouldn’t be recorded for Ori’s perusal at a later date. At the last minute he remembered that the kettle was empty, levitating it to the sink and letting it fill while putting away the last of the dishes. Before he could finish the door chime sounded, rather then going over there and manually opening the door Skrath hit the open button with another minor application of the Force, while making his way over to the filling kettle to grab it and shut off the water before it overflowed.  
  
“Disappointing,” Tulgree swept into the room, his hatchet-faced look of disapproval only emphasized by his close-cropped silver hair. “You have a perfectly valid reason for putting up posters of Numa, Arda, and a whole variety of Twi’Lek idols and what do I find? An apartment as bare as you kept your Padawan quarters. Really Skrath, would it kill you to teach your Padawan a bit about his culture? Numa’s latest poster is a charity job for the Ryloth development agency, and Arda has one that goes towards Twi’Lek focused scholarships. Surely those would be good enough causes for you to invest in, help your Padawan develop a taste for the finer things in life and help people at the same time! Both charities are even legitimate, despite Senator Taa’s best efforts to get his grubby mitts on those credits, the Order investigated on my insistence.”  
  
“It is a bit bland in here, but it’s not like we are…” Skrath trailed off as he recognized the names of the ‘idols’ his master had named. “Porn stars? Really? Would it kill you to not play the dirty old man for five minutes? I suppose you handled the investigation personally.”  
  
“Oh no, I would never be so selfish as to undertake such an investigation,” Tulgree smiled like a naughty little boy, taking decades off his craggy face. “I just put it before the Council, Master Trebor handles the Councils publicity duties these days and so was assigned to investigate.”  
  
“Only you,” Skrath put his face into his hands and resisted the urge to laugh hysterically. Master Coleman Trebor was known as a prude, despite his rather high media profile he was never comfortable when faced with sex or sexuality as demonstrated spectacularly when he flubbed a live interview when the presenter wore a more daring get up then normal. Given what he was feeling through the Force he knew that Master Tulgree had acted with malicious forethought. Part of it was the desire to laugh at the hapless Vruk, but Skrath had a feeling that his former Master had been making a point to the Council, one that went completely over his head.  
  
“Of course, only me,” Tulgree replied bustling into the room and bringing with him a deceptively manic level of energy. “Now sit. You always fail at making tea so I will do so. Force knows I’ve suffered through the sludge you make often enough.”  
  
“Master, my tea is not sludge, merely at the proper strength,” Skrath relinquished his hold on the kettle and made his way to the dining room table to take a seat. He knew better then to try and argue with Ganjay when he was like this. “Just because you prefer slightly coloured water does not mean the rest of the galaxy agrees with you.”  
  
“Heathens, the lot of you,” Ganjay replied over his shoulder as he began to boil the water and searched through the cupboards for what he considered proper tea, huffing at the selection. “All you have is the black sludge. No greens? Not even a respectable blue?”  
  
“Greens are in the back of the cupboard, hidden behind the sugar,” Skrath replied easily falling back into the rhythm he had with his Master for years. “For some reason Ori seems to be under the impression that I will throw out his stash if I find it. No blue, neither of us can stand it, better to just drink hot water straight than to waste the credits.”  
  
“Well at least someone in my teaching lineage has some taste,” Ganjay found the tea and set about making two cups. “Now when are you going to introduce me to this paragon of virtue?”  
  
“When he is less corruptible,” Skrath didn’t even hesitate. “I found something in the data, our internal data that is…”  
  
“Yes, yes, you figured out that this whole Jedi paying for the rearmament was a put-up job,” Ganjay walked over to the table bringing with him a steaming pot of barely steeped tea. “I rather thought you would have come to me weeks ago, after all it took me all of a day to find it. Wasn’t exactly that well-hidden after all, just needed a sentient to actually look at the account codes. Force only knows why the Council didn’t have the Bursary look over the accounts and instead decided to dump it in your lap.”  
  
Ganjay couldn’t help the smirk that developed on his face as he saw his former Padawans gobsmacked expression. There were times when Skrath could be too smart for his own good, and forget just who it was who taught him. It seemed that Skrath had already reached the point in his Knighthood where his former Master would need to step in and council him. It happened to every Knight eventually, but Ganjay had thought it would be at least a few more years before this came up. Oh well, his Padawan had always been an over achiever, he thought fondly.  
  
“Skrath, just because I don’t particularly enjoy the minutia of a hands-off investigation the way you do doesn’t mean I’m not capable of doing it." Ganjay sighed a bit in frustration. "As I've always said, the bachelors in analytics and masters in system dynamics from Core U I have aren't there to enhance my cover. I have them for the same reason I disallowed specific Force meditation when you were going for your Accounting certification." His expression shifted into a small smile as Skrath abruptly shut his mouth. It seemed his former padawan had finally picked up where this was headed. “I am a bit disappointed though, you took yourself off the investigation, and then let yourself get pulled back into it. You need to focus on your Padawan, and, while you are at it, brush up on your own skills and get a proper degree and not a certificate.”  
  
“Master…” Skrath began but Ganjay's returned serious expression and upheld hand stopped his protests before they could really start.  
  
“Yes, I know a cert is good enough to work with, but you don’t learn the complexities from that.”  
  
“It’s done me well so far, and it was more than enough for the council when it came to my trials.”  
  
“Your trials had little to do with your general education,” Ganjay's words took on a dour note as he spoke, chiding his former Padawan. “I would have liked to have seen that completed before you graduated to being a Knight, but you had learned everything you needed too about the Force. There was no reason to fight the Council and hold you back for things you could accomplish without me. My own Master was first knowledge, which shows in the way I trained you, and the way I wanted to finish training you, had this crisis not interfered I would have put you through a degree program before letting you take the trials, not out of any doubts about you but because that sort of education comes in handy when you’re a working Jedi.”  
  
“Thank you for explaining Master.”  
  
“Don’t thank me,” Ganjay sighed and reached out to pour them both a cup of tea. “Because you didn’t finish your general studies, and the Council gave you no time to develop and find errors in my teachings as an independent Knight, your Padawan is suffering. He is where your focus must be at the moment, and in instructing him, work to develop your own skills."   
  
“I have been focusing on him, I even called in help from Master Mundi when I ran into the possibility that he had greater gifts with precognition. I’m working to get included in a multi Jedi expedition, because I know he needs more then I can teach him.”  
  
“And yet you only call me when you have found something for the investigation you removed yourself from. Removing yourself from that Investigation was the right thing to do, I know you heard the Force clearly when you did that, so why did you not stick to your saber?”  
  
“Because it needed to be done.”  
  
Ganjay's stance and words turned authoritarian, “Not by you, as the Master in charge of this investigation I am officially taking you off the case and when we are finished with our discussion you will give me all the data and analysis you've compiled specific to the internal Jedi accounts. You will not retain a copy of this data and analysis. Do you understand and accept this order" Skrath had braced himself for the pronouncement and even knowing his master was making it as clear as possible it was no judgement on his character, it still hit hard. Ganjay's face softened as Skrath nodded and squeaked out a "Yes, I do."  
  
"Skrath, while I'm coordinating with the bursary department to conduct a full audit of the affected accounts, I will tell you now that the assumptions you made to Mace and Yoda were correct, this was not a criminal action, it was a political one, and with the Sith reemerging there is no way in the Nine Hells that the timing of all this is a coincidence. As such NO Knights, or even Masters with Padawans will be conducting this investigation, and I've made it very clear to Mace and Yoda that we Investigators will not become theirs or the Council's Inquisitors; the Sith would love nothing better than for the Order to tear itself apart... But enough about that." Tulgree let the atmosphere relax as he switched to a far more pleasurable topic, “I know about your attempts to find the right Jedi to put together this expedition idea of yours. I actually think it’s a wonderful idea, it will allow you to fill in gaps that my lack of knowledge left in your education as a Knight, not to mention giving your padawan a broader palette of skills with which to tackle the galaxy. But you are already getting some push back from the rumor mill, why are you doing it?”

  
“Master… I know its not the most orthodox solution, but…”  
  
“Skrath, I have to ask. Are you doing this because you don’t think you are good enough? Because you are taking council of your fears? That doesn’t sound like the young man I know, but others have been raising the possibility. Give me some ammo to fire back and cover you, what is the reason I’m not seeing?”  
  
“It has nothing to do with my abilities,” Skrath straightened up and gave his Master a slightly indignant look. “It’s my Padawan. I didn’t think anything of it when we first left the planet but... the difference between when he’s on Corescant and in the Temple and when he’s out in the galaxy, it's night and day. In the short time we were off world he was a bright child, joking with me and willing to experiment. Here? As soon as we were off the ship he started to close up, hiding what he could from me. He’s still learning, thank the Force for that, but its slower here.”  
  
“That is troubling, have you informed the Council?”  
  
“No,” Skrath shook his head slightly, a sure sign to Ganjay that he was deeply conflicted about his decision. His former Padawan always minimized his gestures when he was conflicted.  
  
“I’m not sure just how much of this is Ori, and his unfounded paranoia about the Order as a whole, and how much it's something here.” Skrath continued slowly. “He is sensitive, but I doubt that he is more sensitive than the entire High Council. My gut is telling me that there’s fire, but the Force remains silent.”  
  
“If you aren’t sure, talk to Mundi, you two seem to be getting along well enough. From what you’re saying though it sounds like this expedition would be the best thing for your Padawan.” Ganjay leaned back and looked at his former Padawan, satisfied with the information he had been given. “You have tried to vet everyone yourself, acting like you are going to put proposal up, rather than talking to people and trying to get invited in. You know Master Nu is inordinately fond of you, ask her for help. Admittedly I’m a bit busy with the small matter you unloaded on me..." Skrath chuckled at the understatement, "...but I’m hardly a recluse myself. I can think of a few names to throw at you.”  
  
“I’ve been talking to Master Nu for my Padawan's sake…”  
  
“That fancy force rejection technique of his?” Ganjay waited for the expected nod before continuing. “See? You have an 'in' there. Bet you that she at least knows of a couple of First Knowledge expeditions you could attach yourself too. Now that I think about it… She and Master Poof have been cooking up a scheme together with the archaeological department ever since you sounded the first alarm about the Republic rearming. It hasn’t gotten very far yet, but with the help of an investigator I imagine things could be sped up.”  
  
“Oh?” Skrath looked confused.  
  
“Well yes, Jocasta knows that the archive was… vetted… long before her time and the majority of the more… aggressive? Texts were removed or restricted. After Ruusan, we didn’t just give up the Army of Light, but the ability to rebuild it as well. Since that time things have only gotten worse; bringing military texts into the archives is actively frowned upon, and has been for centuries. Something about the Jedi not being soldiers and all that rot, as if what we are should restrict the knowledge we gather. We have historical texts about wars and battles in the archives, but the analysis is limited, how to manuals are simply non-existent. Not to mention we lack just about every text on building and maintaining a military.”  
  
“So, get the right books from one of the military academies, Force knows there are enough of them out there…”  
  
“For tactical manuals? Easily enough done. Strategic guides for a galactic scale conflict? Logistics primers for the same? Those books are long out of print, they haven’t been needed for a millennium. According to the rant I heard from Jocasta last night apparently there is a major difference between the needs of a localized conflict and a wider one, although we have no clue what that difference is. She’s trying to recover what we gave up but… tracking down copies is not going to be the easiest thing in the galaxy to do.”  
  
“What does she intend?”  
  
“Well, we have the histories, and we know where the battles were fought. You can’t tell me that young ensigns and the like didn’t bring along electronic copies of their texts and that Republic ships didn’t carry electronic libraries…”  
  
“Recovery from derelict ships?”  
  
“On top of tracking down what texts we can find the name of. Not to mention getting sensor data of just what a large-scale battle looks like,” Ganjay agreed taking a sip of his tea and savouring the delicate flavour, so much better then overpowering your taste buds with a club the way Skrath did when he made tea. Sometimes he despaired of his Padawan's appreciation for the subtle pleasures in life. “Do compliment your Padawan, he has excellent taste in teas. I should get him a gift.”  
  
“Please don’t,” Skrath interrupted with visions of just what sort of gift his Master would find appropriate for a fifteen-year-old.  
  
“I’ll think about it. Getting back to what I was saying before my mind wandered, it will be a long boring mission, lots of tedious sensor scan analysis and the like. More then enough time to work with your Padawan on his Force skills, along with his more combat oriented skills, given his way with computers…”  
  
“He would be a perfect fit.”  
  
“As you say,” Ganjay grinned a bit as he spoke. “Jocasta has done most of the work already, behind the scenes as it where, but she’s light on experienced personnel. Given how spread out the First Knowledge people tend to be, what with chasing their own interests and digs, having a second Jedi volunteer for the mission would be a relief. It would at the very least cut down on the time factor, waiting around for available and interested Jedi is one of her limits.”  
  
“And I would have known about this if I had bothered to ask her,” Skrath shook his head in disbelief. “You know I had this exact conversation with my Padawan earlier, he kept bugging me about talking to everyone when the information we needed was on the computer systems.”  
  
“Well they do say the best way to learn is to teach, you know. I mean there was this one time I was on Ranax VI, ended up meeting this delightful young thing…”  
  
“Don’t start, I’ll talk to Jocasta, no need to tell me stories about your exploits till I cave.”  
  
“Depriving me of my little amusements, I see how it is.”  
  
“A very wise man once told me to find the small pleasures in life, something about them making life worth living I believe?”  
  
“Exactly,” Ganjay grinned as he heard the proverb, he used to justify his humour. Then he turned serious, there was one bit of wisdom he felt he needed to pass onto his former Padawan in these fraught times. "Oh, and Skrath? Given where the battles were I doubt that Jocasta let things proceed without involving a Guardian, a true one knowing her. Don’t pass up this opportunity to brush up on your combat skills.”   
  
“Really Master?” Skrath cocked his head to the side. “I know my saber skills have atrophied a bit but…”  
  
“But nothing. We have the first confirmed sighting of a Sith since the end of the New Sith Wars. Get yourself ready to face what is to come. The galaxy is going to be a more violent place in a couple of years, so brush up on those saber skills, and probably your hand to hand as well.”  
  
“Hand to hand I have no worries about, Ori is enthusiastic about keeping in practice. Along with his blaster skills, and sparring with just about everyone he comes across.”  
  
“And you think he has greater precognitive talents? Might I suggest that you notice just what he is doing then?”  
  
“Ah…”  
  
“Yes, Ah. Use your resources,” Ganjay smirked at his former Padawan and let go of his serious demeanour. He had done what he had set out to, there was no reason not to embarrass Skrath a bit now that he had been properly counselled. “I don’t just mean your friendship with the delectable Nu, have you seen her butt? Forget credits you could bounce peggets off that work of art!”  
  
“Master!” Skrath shook his head in despair. Some things never changed

* * *

Rachi’Sitra was nervous as she entered the sparing hall on the heels of her Master, Renee Coris. She had known that this exhibition match would be closely observed but the number of Masters and Council members here to observe was still intimidating. Master Mundi stood at the back of the hall, in soft conversation with Master Poof, the two Council members clearly conversing over something of importance from the way their heads were together and they kept gesturing emphatically. Battle Master Cin Drallig stood at the center of the ring, watching the surroundings with hooded eyes, his presence as the officiant a testament to the importance of this match.  
  
“This should be interesting,” Renee commented dryly as she made her way over to Master Nu, ignoring the other beings in the room with supreme disregard for their importance. Rachi tried to match her Masters disinterested manner, but it was hard to do.  
  
“Master, just what is so important about an exhibition of Jar’kai?” Rachi asked in a soft voice.  
  
“It is not the saber play we are all here to see,” Master Nu answered her question easily. “Rather it is the unpredictability of this match. In terms of pure saber skill, Aayla’Secura is one of the rising stars of the Temple, and Ori’Daki for all his attempts, is not.”  
  
“Unpredictability?” Renee asked, her weather-beaten face set in a look of equine stupidity. Rachi was surprised by that, her Master almost never used her lack of looks to discount her intelligence when they were in the Temple, and she certainly knew that Master Nu would see through the pretense.  
  
“Daki has a habit of coming up with… unconventional solutions,” Master Nu ignored the attempts at stupidity and answered the real question. “He has developed a skill to repel the Force, and then proceeded to not show it to anyone but his Master.”  
  
“That… I cannot comprehend how that would feel…” Renee shuddered as she spoke. “You believe that he will use it?”  
  
“Look at him,” Nu said gesturing to where the twi’lek was slowly warming up. Rachi tried to see what was being spoken about but she couldn’t see it. Sure, he was mildly attractive in the way all twi’leks who didn’t let themselves give in to their baser natures were, and his skin tone hinted at his origins, but aside from exhaustion she couldn’t see anything special about him.  
  
“Interesting,” Renee commented, her eyes narrowing. “Rachi? Do you see it?”  
  
“Master?”  
  
“You don’t. It seems I have spent too much time dragging you across the galaxy and not enough time working with you on your combat skills.” Renee grimaced as she spoke, clearly not liking the obvious solution to the problem. “Describe him to me.”  
  
“Rutian hybrid,” Rachi started from the basics. “Common cross, well built, and he moves well. Tired, actually that is understating it; exhausted is more accurate. Calm, or at least not overly worried… That is what you wanted me to see isn’t it?”  
  
“Exactly, he knows what he is up against and yet…” Renee gave her Padawan a smile and gestured to Ori. “There he stands under the eyes of the Council almost as if he doesn’t have a care in the world, and despite his exhaustion. He has to have a trump card to play in order to make this match more than a well-attended beat down.”  
  
“Possibly, though this wouldn’t be the first time Padawan Daki’s reach exceeded his grasp. He is an interesting opponent when he puts his mind to it, very determined, but his technical skills leave something to be desired,” Master Plo Koon spoke up as he joined their small group. “Knight Coris, it is good to see you in the Temple, for once.”  
  
“The will of the Force and the vagaries of academic interest rarely leave me the time I would like to visit, Master,” Renee answered easily. She didn’t let her lack of rank bother her, even at her advanced age. Rachi wanted that self-confidence, but knew that Renee had only achieved it through years of hard work and multiple academic achievements. Her Master was one of the recognized leaders in the field of Sith Archaeology, part of the reason she had never taken a Padawan before. Her work often took her to dangerous sites heavily aligned to the dark side, and she had been reluctant to expose a Padawan to those dangers. Rachi still didn’t know what had driven her Master to the creche that day, and what had made her take such an interest in her development, but she thanked the Force that it had happened. Her Master's interest in the past had allowed her the freedom to explore intellectually in ways that no other Master would have thought of.  
  
“Your latest paper, Angularity and the Aesthetics of the dark side was illuminating,” The Kel Dor rumbled out, his interest in the esoteric showing through. “I had wondered if you had any interest in seeing if light side sects, not connected to the Temple, such as the Baran Do Sages of my own native Dorin hold similar aesthetic themes in their works?”  
  
“That, Master Koon, would be the work of a lifetime,” Renee answered with a wistful smile. “I’m afraid I just don’t have the prerequisite mindset to complete such a survey. The only reason I managed to put together my little paper on the aesthetics of the dark side was the sheer number of Sith and Sith adjacent Temples I have explored in my career.”  
  
“Still, it was a fascinating read,” Plo said easily. “Well worth elevating you to Master status.”  
  
“I think not,” Renee shook her head gently, sorrow now showing on her weather-beaten face. “The paper had little to do with the Force, Master, it had everything to do with the mindset of the beings who created the works discussed and how the dark siders self-selected for certain mindset. It was interesting to be sure, but not worthy of Mastery. To be a Master, a real Master, one must either raise a Padawan, or demonstrate mastery of the Force, neither of which I have done yet. To take the title without that would devalue it.”  
  
“Stubborn to the last,” Master Nu grumped out, her stern librarian looks only emphasizing her disagreement with Rachi’s Master. “Your dedication to academic rigor in all things makes you unwilling to accept your due.”  
  
“I am who I am, and I am more then comfortable in my skin,” Renee replied mildly. “It looks like the main event is here…”  
  
“Oh yes,” Plo’s grin was visible even under his mask. “This should be fascinating to see. I wonder if Padawan Daki is just being shameless, or if he has an actual plan?”  
  
  
Ori was tired, in a way he hadn’t been since Rothana, and not looking forward to being thrown around the ring by Secura. He had known he wasn’t going to win this match from the moment it had been announced, and instead of preparing to lose regardless, had spent his time in the archives looking up the right information to send on to the service corps about the Altisians sect. The basics had been easy enough to find, but the holy grail of how to contact them had eluded him until late last night. Then he had faced a time crunch, as the updated database went out early this morning and he doubted he would be in the Temple when the following update went out.  
  
Getting the information he wanted into the update wouldn’t have been hard; except the Order had started to wake up to their electronic vulnerabilities. He had been forced to sneak into the com center, and then wait for the update to be queued for transmission before making his additions. That was the only way he had figured out to keep the automatic routines from weeding out his additions, unless he wanted to try his hand at cracking the Master's personal comp where the original update resided. Success had come at the cost of sleep, a severe but necessary sacrifice.   
  
Given the unexpected turn out he was grateful that Master Mundi and Skrath had declined to put any pressure on him today. He was already on edge; waiting for sparring matches to begin had always been harder for him then the actual match, and after the tempest at the range, Ori's tolerance for that sort of pressure hadn't recovered. Of course, he hadn’t really considered what an actual empath would do to him. He could feel Secura coming down the hall before she entered the salle, and knew he was in for more trouble than he'd anticipated. Her Force presence was grating to be around, demanding entry into his mind a place she had no business being, assessing his emotions constantly even as she entered.  
  
Despite her fantastic looks, Ori couldn’t bring himself to appreciate her appearance. He did focus on her, his eyes roaming her body looking for tells or hints about how the match would go. She was too well trained to show any, her quick conversation with her Kiffar Master was interesting. The two of them seemed to be closer than he had thought, and Ori chewed his lip as he thought about how to handle that. His usual strategy for matching an opponent who would overwhelm him with their superior skill was to throw in as many dirty tricks as he could think of. Given the attention that this match had generated he had discounted that strategy, and seeing the closeness between Vos and Secura put the final nail on that coffin.  
  
Ori knew he couldn't pull off any joint kicks or digs with his claws hidden or subtle enough to avoid the face full of angry Kiffar seconds later. Vos wouldn’t care about any censure, his attitude screamed consequences be damned. That was going to make things a whole lot more complicated. He was going to have to fight this one 'clean,' relying solely on his blade skills and the Force. The only silver lining being that even a single point would be a good enough showing in his mind. Ori’s eyes narrowed as Vos loped over to the far wall, his strides projecting supreme confidence and predatory grace, and he took his place around the ring next to Master Mundi. Secura, as she advanced into the ring, had every bit of his confidence, but her strides were smoother, and less aggressive. That was a clue in how to fight her.  
  
“Greetings Padawan Daki,” Secura’s lekku twitched in the Ryl acknowledgment of a superior granting an inferior the right to speak, annoying him to no end. “I hope we have a good match.”  
  
“Agree Padawan Secura,” if Ori emphasized her clan name just a bit too much? Well... he could hardly be faulted for that. His lekku twitching out ‘slaver nobility’ at the same time on the other hand? Ori just hoped that the Masters watching weren’t fully conversant in the subtleties of Ryl or there'd be Hells to pay for the both of them. Her stiffening back told him that the shot had hit home, and he felt was an appropriate way to open the match anything he could do to put her off balance would help.  
  
Rachi couldn’t contain her giggle as she watched the two Padawans go through the painfully formal opening of the match with Master Drallig. Each word in basic was polite, and correct, all the while throwing the most vulgar insults at each other in Ryl. It was fascinating to watch, polite on the surface, but unless she missed her guess, as the only other twi'lek in the area, she was the only one who was seeing the entire conversation.  
  
“And what is so amusing Padawan mine?” Renee asked, her own eyes focused on the two Padawans.  
  
“I did not know they were so well-acquainted Master,” Rachi replied in a low voice, trying to avoid the attention of the other Masters. This was twi’lek business and none of theirs, or at least she thought.  
  
“Neither did I,” Renee kept her voice at a conversational level, not letting her interest show. “Why do you think they know each other?”  
  
“Well, Daki just called Secura a lyek masquerading as a rycrit, and Secura just call Daki too dumb to avoid the bright side,” Rachi replied with a shrug. “So, they’re either friends or they hate each other. Oh, dear…”  
  
“What now dear?” Renee was only keeping her own laughter at bay by dint of long experience. She always enjoyed being in on the joke, and from her observations she was the only Master who was.  
  
“They started on each other’s parentage,” Rachi’s deep purple coloration did a lot to hide her blush, but Renee had known her since she was a little girl so knew the signs.  
  
“Vulgar, I take it?”  
  
“Vulgar is far too mild a term.”  
  
Ori locked his Force signature down as Drallig finally came to the end of his talk, it wasn’t anything he hadn’t heard a hundred times before and paying attention to Secura was more important at the moment. Her head twitches, and the way she was shifting from foot to foot let him know he was getting to her. Now he just had to make this count, he would only get one shot before she came back into balance and he needed to ride that for all it was worth.  
  
“Take your marks,” Drallig's placid voiced command had Ori switching to a low guard, his body tense and ready for action with his sabers held in a reverse grip. Secura chose a middle guard, her sabers in the traditional position, but Ori could tell that she was tense and ready. He did note a slight flash of confusion, it seemed that by hiding his Force presence, he was further disrupting her. “And… Begin.”  
  
As Drallig Force jumped out from between the two Padawans, Ori started to move. He had no intention of falling back and getting into a long match, instead he sprinted forwards, closing the distance and getting inside of Secura’s guard. She was good enough to see what he was doing, but too off balance to do more then take a swipe at him before he was on her. His quick swipes at her legs didn’t do him any good, Aayla leapt straight up forcing Ori to defend as she came back down.  
  
Rather then let her take control of the match Ori kicked out, missing her legs by centimetres as she took to the air once more. She flipped backwards, showing off her acrobatic prowess. Ori wasn’t impressed, that was a standard Ataru move, with a known landing distance. He leapt, aiming for the point he thought she would land, coming down right behind her with his sabers set so they would impale her as he landed. He was a bit slow, she had time to roll away from her landing right before he arrived, slamming his sabers deep into the ring. Instead of being discouraged, Ori lashed out with a kick that would have caught her trailing ankle had she not twitched at the last minute, causing him to miss and her to lose control of her roll.  
  
Ori tried to reach her before she regained control, his flash of triumph breaking through his Force concealment, causing her to hesitate for a millisecond as she came to her feet. He rotated his left-handed saber to the traditional grip, forcing her to dodge once again, and brought his sabers into a diagonal slash, intending to bisect her from shoulder to hip. Aayla wasn’t surprised this time, and instead of dodging her left leg lifted into a kick spoiling his aim and intercepting his descending saber arm with punishing force. Ori lost control of his saber, her kick having hit the tendons in his arm causing him to let go, sending the saber flying in one direction while he flew backwards.  
  
After that it was over for him. Ori tried to go back on the offensive but Aayla had regained her balance, she easily fended of his slashes, then locked his remaining saber in place while her second saber fell like a guillotine blade. Had the match been at full power Ori would have been split in half vertically, as it was the saber just hurt.  
  
“Point to Secura, to your start positions,” Master Drallig stated calmly. Ori shook his head and summoned his lost saber. He could feel his arm protesting, telling him that her kick had done more damage than he had thought. He had failed in his best chance to score a point and Aayla was already finding the flaws in his Force concealment. Ori rotated his arm trying to get it working again even as he made his way back to his mark. Looking at Secura, and her arrogant walk back to her own mark, prowling like she was the predator and he was the prey; he wracked his tired brain trying to come up with a new strategy. The only clue he had to work with was her split-second flinch when he had emoted, chewing his lip Ori thought he might be able to work with that. Although given the amount of energy he had put into that first point he was going to have to be more conservative, he just didn’t have the endurance for another fast-paced match like that. Fortunately, he thought she would accept a slower pace, at least until he sprang his surprise.  
  
  
  
“Not as impressive as I thought Daki would be,” Ki-Adi-Mundi commented to his fellow Council member. “I expected better from him.”  
  
“That is the difference in skill between a senior Padawan and one who has just recently attained the rank.” Yael Poof replied unconcerned by what he had seen. “He seems to think he’s found another way to victory, interesting.”  
  
“Daki is many things but I know he isn’t foolish enough to think he can win this,” Mundi’s skepticism was on display as he said that. “Besides, for him that was sloppy. He usually has better control then that. His footing was atrocious, and he had his sabers over extended multiple times. He should not have spent so much time in the archives in preparation for this match, his exhaustion is going to make sure he has a subpar performance.”  
  
“That I agree with,” Poof frowned as he said that. “I think there’s more here then we are seeing. He saw something in those last seconds which has given him hope, and you know as well as I that it wasn’t in the saber play. He sensed something, note how he is concealing his Force presence again.”  
  
“Something about Padawan Secura?”  
  
“Known empath,” Poof said meditatively. “Want to bet that’s what he spent his time in the archives looking up?”  
  
“That would be just like him,” Mundi’s pained smile showed just how frustrating he found Daki. “He never goes for the obvious solution when there’s an oblique approach on offer. The problem with evaluating him is that he never follows the standard paths, always striking out on his own looking for a different way. It threw off large portions of the test I was running on him; his 'normal' reactions were too far off the baseline. Still, he started looking in the archive a week before this match was announced so… results like that are good evidence of a minor prognosticative talent, but if he has a strong one then Chancellor Palpatine is a Sith Lord.”  
  
  
  
“Fighters ready?” Master Drallig asked even as Ori put his left arm back, saber gripped in the reversed, while taking a more traditional Makashi stance. “Begin.”  
  
Ori didn’t wait for Secura to attack, this time he leapt backwards putting space between the two of them. He fended off a few probing slashes with the tip of his saber, but stayed defensive. Secura circled him, content to probe his defensive stance, allowing the match to slow down. It was clear from just a few passes that she was in near complete control of the match, her sabers stayed on target and didn’t over extend the way his blocks did. Even keeping to just using the tip of his saber the difference in skill was evident.  
  
When Aayla had confirmed the difference in skill she went on the offensive, pushing Ori hard and making him defend himself with everything he had. She committed to the attack completely, coming at him from divergent angles, when he sprung the idea he had been cooking up. Releasing one's emotions into the Force was one of the first lessons an Initiate learned, and Ori knew it well. He used it now, releasing his panicked horror from Rothana, his elated fear from when he had been chosen as a Padawan, his satisfaction from when he had returned to the Serenity with a case of blasters. Going from being a blank spot in the Force to the emotive center of the room was enough to hitch Secura’s step, and with that slight hitch he struck. His left hand swept around in a slash aimed at her hips.  
  
Unfortunately for Ori his injured arm didn’t quite want to cooperate, and he was just barely too slow. Aayla had dropped into a classic Makashi stop thrust and the tip of her saber got into position just that much faster, intersecting with his left arm before it could complete its rotation. Ori grunted in pained annoyance as Drallig called the point. He knew he had the right idea; his emotions just hadn’t been strong enough. A little more disruption and that point would have been his.  
  
  
  
“Now that isn’t something I have seen in ages,” Master Nu said in open admiration. “He must have scoured the archives looking for how to fight an empath.”  
  
“Master?” Rachi asked in confusion. So far, the match hadn’t given her the best impression of Padawan Daki. He was clearly out of his depth, and she thought she could take him, never mind a certified prodigy like Secura.  
  
“Padawan Secura is overly reliant on her natural gifts,” Renee answered for the more senior Master. “Like Knight Vos, she uses what the Force has gifted her beyond what is wise. Daki seems to have discovered this and put the time and effort into researching how to disrupt it.”  
  
“Empaths are a horror to fight against, surprising them is almost impossible and even in the instances you do achieve it, they recover almost immediately as well.” Renee took over instructing her Padawan on just what was going on in the ring. “The first point was Padawan Daki testing the difference in their skill levels, he pushed her hard while almost the entire time he kept up his Force concealment, making Padawan Secura’s empathic gifts a non issue. He didn’t have the skill to pull off a victory, but he clearly learned from it. This second point, well... if he wasn’t injured, then the emotions he pushed out would have given him the point. So using two different techniques requiring mutually exclusive mental states, Ori has surprised Secura.”  
  
“That would have been an upset,” Master Nu said with a slight grin. “I always liked him; he has the proper amount of respect for the archives. My only worry is that this is clearly not something he has practiced, and if he wants to regain anything he’s going to need to go hard on the emotions, that can be dangerous…”  
  
“He might not have had the time,” Renee answered, her eyes narrowing. “All of the standard texts about fighting empaths emphasize Force concealment as your best defense. He would have had to go deep into the archives to find an alternate method, which he evidently has done.”  
  
“And older texts tend not to have the types of warnings that I would like in their instructions,” Nu replied distractedly. Rachi noted that the old archivist’s hand was clutching her lightsaber with white knuckled force. “Lets just hope that exhaustion hasn’t overwhelmed his good sense…”  
  
“If he can keep it together…” Renee paused and looked around the room, her eyes zeroing on the tense form of Knight Kri. “He has the type of mind which would be useful for me, you have my blessing to allow them to join.”  
  
“As if I expected anything else.”  
  
  
  
Despite the match officially going to five points, Ori knew this would be his last chance, he just needed to dig deeper in order to get that point. Cycling his emotions had almost been enough, he was just too injured to properly take advantage of the opening he had generated. He thought about calling up a selection of the 'solid' emotions of his first life, and setting off an emotional storm right in the kriffing bitch's face, but dismissed that idea almost immediately as the currents of the Force flowing in the microns around him rumbled and started to push into his control strangely. No, she'd be ready for a broad swathe of emotions and he'd only wreck himself in all ways trying to overcome that defense. She wasn't entitled to his emotions anyway, not without paying for them... but... she HAD paid for one emotion that was running strong and true right now. And neither Ori's physical or Force presence betrayed his bridge troll grin as he welcomed Aayla to all the paranoia she'd wanted and far more besides.   
  
Not bothering to listen to Drallig Ori began his plan, focusing on the light paranoid feelings that came to him every time he interacted with a member of the Council. Then he shifted into high gear, letting his paranoia run rampant through the Force the way it had when Skrath had discovered that he had something of a gift for foresight. He kept his eyes carefully on Secura, noting the way her own eyes had begun to twitch like a hunted animal. He fed his trolling grin and a slight hint of triumph into the Force even as he twitched his right arm as if he was going to attack, just tensing the muscles, not actually moving. Secura’s almost block showed him that this was working, he had a chance.  
  
Even as Drallig's arm began to descend Ori was acting. He stepped forwards, and Secura lunged clumsily. Instead of letting triumph be released into the Force he went with a combination of paranoia and fear, what he had felt when Skrath had informed him he would be apologizing to the Supreme Chancellor. Secura backed away quickly, her eyes hunting for the threat even as her blades surged in a complex defensive pattern designed to ward off multiple attackers coming from multiple directions. He didn’t waste any time, he didn’t have the control to keep this up for much longer, and he doubted she would be so foolish as to keep from controlling her empathy once she figured out just what he was doing so he lunged.  
  
Ori’s right arm went to full extension, releasing the mix of paranoia and annoyance Master Mundi had caused him to feel. Secura turned, trying to withdraw, her Force senses at full extension as she searched for the 'true' direction of Ori's attack that she was certain was there. Her leg rose in a frantic kick, trying to push Ori back as she sought the distance she would need to regain her bearings, even as his sabers found contact across her stomach. His sense of genuine triumph was short-lived though as her leg kept rising, coming up under his chin and connecting with enough force to snap his jaw shut and lift him off the ground. That was the final straw, his abused mind shut down, and he crumpled onto the mats of the ring even as Aayla frantically flipped backwards, her face a mix of bewilderment, wariness and even some fear as she landed in a fully guarded stance as if Ori was feigning being unconscious heap on the ground.  
  


  
Master Plo Koon was the first of their little group to speak, even as the medics rushed to the downed form of Padawan Daki. Knight Vos had vaulted to his Padawan's side, clearly intent on calming her down. Secura kept her sabers activated and raised, wariness and anxiety giving way to confusion and then the shuttered expression of realization that proceeded embarrassment. Master Drallig moved to the center of the ring, clearly keeping himself between her and the downed Daki, was directing the chaos with calm certainty.  
  
“That wasn’t what I expected…”

**Reviewed by lloyd007**


	6. Chapter 6

“I am so glad to get out of the Temple,” Ori said as he entered the Serenity’s small galley, intent on finding himself something to eat. Take off and transition had been at an ungodly early hour and he was not in any way shape or form a morning person, so he had skipped breakfast again.  
  
“Because the Temple is the root of all your problems,” Rachi replied from where she was already seated, a cup of tea by her hand as she lazily scrolled through a book.  
  
“Nope, not in the least,” Ori replied cheerfully, pouring himself a cup of caf and looking to see what rations the ship had. He hadn’t had time to go out and get real food and so had to make do with the Order's ration packs until they got to Corellia. He grimaced at the selection and decided on one of the green ones. A little bit of boiling water later and he was regretting his choice, the only redeeming feature the gelatinous mass of… he didn’t know what it was… had was the color. “Interesting read?”  
  
“Hardly, my distance learning assignment,” Rachi replied distractedly. “Architectural cues as societal indicators, it presents interesting information in the driest manner possible. If this wasn’t the assigned reading for my sociology requirements, I wouldn’t touch it. That reminds me, so you know, soon after we arrive on Corellia, there'll be a four day period where Coris and I will be mostly unavailable since she'll be administering my finals. She wants me to get all of my undergrad requirements out of the way so there's no extra paperwork on her end in using my participation on this expedition as credit towards a graduate degree…”  
  
“Distance learning… How did that come to be?” Ori asked, interested despite the dryness of the topic. He'd completed the Republic General Education Degree but hadn’t figured out a way to gain access to formal education beyond that. “I thought that we needed to do most of our education through the Order?”  
  
“And you think this isn’t through the Order? Padawans do go on missions you know.”  
  
“Well yes, but I wasn’t aware that there was a formal system in place,” Ori responded without any heat. He wanted this information, so he wasn’t inclined to be rude about getting it. Being mostly self-educated he knew there was utility in formal certification, especially if he could get it from institutions outside the Order. “I thought that the Order handled all accreditation.”  
  
“True, but I’m First Knowledge, and to the institutions we partner with, our academic degrees matter infinitely more than our Jedi rank." Rachi put down the reader and looked at Ori for the first time in this conversation. She was shocked by what she saw, gone was the Padawan in his standard issue robes, in his place was a swashbuckler. He was dressed in a loose white shirt with a pair of grey slacks held up by a black leather gun belt. The only piece of the get up which didn’t scream smuggler was the sling restraining his arm, a legacy of his short-lived match with Secura. The most disconcerting thing about the transformation was how comfortable Ori was, it was as if he had shed an uncomfortable costume, letting his natural inclinations show for the first time since she had met him. “Interesting clothes, where did you get them?”  
  
“Ori loots the undercover commissary every chance he gets,” Skrath said as he entered the galley, looking over his Padawan and nodding with approval to see him eating, although he couldn't help but make a face on realizing what he was eating. “Verpine paste? Really?”  
  
“I hadn’t had it before and it looked the most interesting out of the reconstituted glops,” Ori defended himself with a one-armed shrug. “Besides it has all the nutrients, I checked.”  
  
“Well yes, but it tastes worse than it looks,” Skrath found the Caf pot and took a seat. "Sorry, please continue your conversation on... distance learning I think I heard?”  
  
“First Knowledge keeps close links with several universities of galactic repute,” Rachi replied promptly, noting how Skrath hadn’t commented on the transformation of his Padawan, he seemed to have expected it. “They let Padawans with a known Master take their courses via distance learning.”  
  
“Good idea, I wish the rest of the Temple knew about that,” Skrath seemed contemplative as he spoke. As if an idea had hit him that he hadn’t ever contemplated before. “Force knows how hard it is to stay on one planet long enough to get a cert, let alone a degree. I presume Renee is known?”  
  
“Considering her published work, I would say so…” Rachi narrowed her eyes trying to decide if she needed to defend her Master or not.  
  
“Oh Ori…”  
  
“Great, more work for me,” Ori replied to his Master's gleeful voice. “Do you think they will accept me?”  
  
“Well, you are accredited,” Skrath replied virtuously. “Besides, this expedition is going to involve long periods of boredom. Better to have you expanding your mind then getting into trouble.”  
  
“Shipboard?”  
  
“You are smarter than that, normally,” Skrath lightly teased his Padawan. It was good to see him coming out of his shell, he hadn’t expected it to be this quick though, he had thought it would take more time around Renee and Rachi before Ori let himself relax. So, it wasn’t the Jedi in the Temple per say, so much as it was the location? “Anyway, I have news! Master Nu came through for us and got a proper Guardian to watch over us for the expedition, we’ll be picking them up at Bespin.”  
  
“Them?” Ori asked his head cocking to the side. “As in more than one?”  
  
“Bespin?” Rachi asked almost at the same time. “What’s there?”  
  
“Them as in the Guardian in question thought that the expedition gave her enough time and opportunities to start training a Padawan. Caused something of a stir at the Temple when she announced she was coming to get her Padawan and would meet us before our second stop.” Skrath grinned as he said that. The chaos that announcement had caused had been glorious. The creche minders still remembered Knight Raskta and they had not been happy to hear she was intent on taking a Padawan, especially as she was just coming of a stint as a Watchman as penance for her training methods. “Nothing is at Bespin specifically but… it's right next door to the Hoth system, and I think you both know what happened there.”  
  
“That’s going a bit further back then I thought,” Ori commented his face a mask of disgust as he gulped down his goop as fast as possible. “Nothing from the New Sith Wars era was obvious then?”  
  
“No, it’s about coherency of training,” Rachi made a face as Ori downed his caf to get the taste of his meal out of his mouth. “During the New Sith Wars, training standards were all over the place, especially once you got past the first hundred years. By the end both sides were pretty much reduced to throwing untrained bodies at the other. If we want to find documentation, we need a polity with a coherent training policy, and say what you will about both the Old Republic and the Sith Empire, they had that. Not sure just what use the Sith documents would be though…”  
  
“They tended to have ship designs which are closer to ours than the Republic,” Ori replied distractedly, using the Force to pour himself another cup of caf without leaving his seat. “Republican designs tended to use a hatchet face, hammerhead in common parlance, for frontal assaults. Why almost no one uses the designs which won multiple galactic wars anymore I don’t know but…”  
  
“Well, you’re in for a treat once we get to Corellia then,” Skrath shared his news with relish. “Our first stop is going to be the old bone yards, get all of us familiar with the designs we’re looking for.”  
  
“If we know where the boneyards are why aren’t we starting there? I mean, the Corellians have to have the trained personal to look over those ships for the databases we want right?” Ori asked before he savoured a sip of his refreshed caf.  
  
“Those ships would've been stripped for parts a long time ago,” Rachi shook her head in disagreement. “Even the Sith ships were parted out, what’s left are the hulls and little else."  
  
“They might have missed something…”  
  
“And you will get a chance to find out,” Skrath interrupted cheerfully. “Your initial EVA training is going to take place on those ships.”  
  
“Are we basing off the Light of Knowledge or are we taking short hops in the Serenity?” Ori asked practically.  
  
“Short hops,” Renee entered the room and made a bee line for the tea. “According to Space Master Vire, the Light needs at least a month in dock, they took some damage during their last exploration mission when some old patchwork failed and he managed to clear the funding for a complete outer hull replacement.”  
  
Ori frowned in contemplation as he heard that. “How old is the Light?”  
  
"A century last year” Renee replied without a care. “She’s been with the Order for the entire time, mostly used by the Explorer corps but from time to time they let us First Knowledge geeks borrow her. Beautiful ship, they don’t make them like that anymore.”  
  
“CR class corvettes? I know I’m the ship geek here but…” Skrath looked confused as he said that.  
  
“CR-50 Wanderer, the last production run to use the CR-12 space frame before CEC switched to what they use now.” Rachi put in innocently, watching Ori’s expression carefully to see if he would get it.  
  
“A Thranta…” Ori’s eyes shown with glee. “I didn’t know they kept using that space frame. I thought the last vestiges of that design lineage were in the Sphyrna class…”  
  
“It was a proven space frame and during the New Sith Wars; CEC wanted a known design for their civilian corvettes. They kept making them right up until the transport market shifted to smaller, less infrastructure intensive designs. Still a good ship,” Renee was pleased to see Ori was interested in history, even if it was seemingly limited to ship design. “While it's in the yard we have free reign to the old bone yards, although you should focus on training and familiarizing yourself with the equipment and procedures you'll be using for the rest of the expedition since the odds of finding something important all the salvagers and previous trainees somehow missed is effectively nothing."  
  
“Are we going to have any time on world?” Rachi asked diffidently.  
  
"I'll make sure you have three days once finals and EVA qualification trials are finished, you might have more depending on how quickly the Light's overhaul is finished.” Renee replied with a fond smile, she knew that Rachi would enjoy the museums and historical landmarks in her time off, Ori and Skrath would need to be distracted though. From everything the rumor mill said the pair of them had a way of finding trouble without meaning too, and it wouldn’t do to have her Padawan's vacation interrupted. “Do you have any ideas?”  
  
“Well, there’s the Drall Burrows, the Cornet History Museum, and the Selonian Museum of Culture and Trade …” Rachi paused for breath before continuing. “I also thought about seeing a few of the Sith landing sites and the memorials there, but they are secondary to those three since everything I've read has indicated they're more tourist traps now thanks to centuries of rampant souvenir hunting leaving even the monuments themselves heavily damaged... a shame.”  
  
“Well, since you have destinations on three of the five brothers, I think Ori would be more then happy to escort you,” Skrath put in quickly, seeing an opportunity to let Ori relax before they started out. The Temple had been stressful for him and it would be best if he was relaxed before being cooped up in a ship not his own. He didn’t want Ori to spend the entire mission hiding on the Serenity, failing to take advantage of the enormous amount of learning that could be accomplished simply by listening to the old sweats in the technical core, let alone the maverick pilots of the explorer corps. Getting his Padawan to relax for a few days would make him more willing to at least eat in the common mess, where he was certain that Ori’s natural curiosity would lead him to what Skrath wanted him to learn.

* * *

  
  
“Welcome to Corellia,” Space Master Quellcrist Vire’s voice was jovial as he met the small groups of Knights and Padawans on the hanger deck of his ship. His eyes briefly roaming over the ship which would serve as their second scout, appreciating the neat docking job their pilot had done. It had been put perfectly into the bay reserved for it, and he approved. “I hope the journey here was pleasant?”  
  
“Our pilot was more than adequate,” Renee replied with a sniff. “We hardly needed you to offer up one of yours for the trip.”  
  
“Clearly it wasn’t you or your Padawan,” Quellcrist shot back, enjoying the banter with his clan mate, it had been years since they had seen each other, but they fell back into their roles as if it had been yesterday. “Care to introduce me?”  
  
“Space Master Quellcrist Vire, be known to Padawan Daki and his Master Knight Kri,” Renee easily pointed the two out. Ori was busy looking around the docking bay with wide eyes, not paying attention.  
  
“An honor to meet you,” Skrath bowed slightly in greeting, discretely smacking Ori so that he would pay attention. Ori started and then offered a quick bow, before going back to his fascinated perusal.  
  
Far from taking offense, Vire's own face lit up at seeing Ori's awestruck expression, “I see someone is interested in the ships, your pilot I presume?”  
  
“When I can tear him away from ship watching,” Skrath shook his head in exasperation. “You would think he'd never seen a ship before from the way he’s acting.”  
  
“Are you kidding me? This is fascinating, the frame is from millennium ago but the internals are all new! I think the bay equipment was put in recently, KDY design if I’m not mistaken, I can see how CEC gets their reputation for modularity…” Ori gushed. “The fighters aren’t anything to write home about... but the scout ship? That’s a YG-4210, it hasn’t been in production for more than a century!”  
  
“Path to Illumination, she’s a good ship. Been with the Explorer corps for three centuries, and despite her advanced age she’s still one of the best scouts we have. They just don’t make them like they used to.”  
  
“Getting parts for her must be impossible.”  
  
“You would think that, but its not the case. Her frame is about the only thing left that’s stock. We’ve replaced just about everything else over the years to keep her in service, probably will keep doing so until CEC or one of the other corps comes up with a suitable replacement. For some reason they keep missing the mark with scout ships. Glad to see you have an interest in history young one, it’ll serve you well on this mission.” Quellcrist tamped down his huge grin to a more polite smile and turned back to Renee. “And who is this?”  
  
“My Padawan, Rachi’Sitra, Archaeologist in training,” Renee answered with a fond and knowing smile, that Ori was even more enthused about history when experiencing it than just reading about it was a very good omen for this expedition indeed.  
  
“So, you finally broke down and found a Padawan, I never thought it would happen,” Quellcrist‘s voice became solemn. “Greetings to you, Padawan Sitra.”  
  
“Thank you for the welcome to your ship,” Rachi replied evenly, blushing at the respect and trying to fade into the background.  
  
“Well if you ever want stories about how your Master was as a crecheling, let me know,” Quellcrist flashed his teeth, breaking the tension. “I’m sure she hasn’t told you but she used to be quite the wild one, kept escaping the crèche to wander the halls looking for artifacts. We all knew she was destined for First Knowledge after it kept happening, why I remember the time…”  
  
“No need to tell her about that,” Renee interjected, quickly changing the topic before Quellcrist could get started. It wasn’t often she ran into the few remaining members of her creche clan, and she had forgotten how embarrassing they were in their pride over her achievements. Being the only youngling to end up as a Padawan, they all felt her achievements reflected well on them, despite the fact that they were all masters of their own fields, and had universally chosen not to progress towards a Knighthood of their own volition. “I presume you have a plan for our EVA quals?”  
  
“Justine just passed her instructor's course, so she and Vandire are going to be taking you out to the graveyard in the Illumination.” Quellcrist held up a hand before Renee could interrupt. “I know you’re qualified, but it's been years since you took the test. Better to have an instructor with a fresh rating, and time on our current EVA exo suits, make sure that nothing goes wrong.”  
  
“Sensible,” Skrath interjected smoothly, he could tell the older Knight was on the verge of getting stubborn. “You have a plan?”  
  
“Spend the night settling in and then we start in the morning,” Vire replied easily, ignoring the daggers that Renee was glaring at him. She had wanted to handle the instruction herself, there were techniques for getting the most out of any sensor system that needed to be passed on to her Padawan. In her mind she acknowledged that she was being slightly silly, after all competent instruction would be a Force blessed gift when dealing with Skrath and Ori. She would just have to make time to add in her little tricks later in the lesson.  
  
As the two Knights and Space Master dove into the minutia of planning their first trip, Rachi drifted off to Ori who was pacing around the freighter, still fascinated by its lines. "I’m hardly one to say aesthetics aren’t important, but would you explain why this particular ship is so fascinating?” Rachi asked softly, her own interest in ship lineages being piqued while still keeping an eye on their masters in case they were needed.  
  
“It’s not the aesthetics of the ship, it’s the engineering style and the programming.” Ori replied evenly. “The YG series began the flat tri pod engine mounting system which you see today in the Consular class and other designs. In its time it revolutionized the shipbuilding industry. It’s kind of like if you found one of the first battery powered lightsabers still in use today, an artifact which represents a watershed in design evolution.”  
  
“Oh?”  
  
“Podded engines aren’t that revolutionary; you can see that from this ship after all. It’s the avionics system which allowed them to be flat mounted rather then cluster mounted around a ship's center of gravity. I really want to get a look at her computers and see if any of the original coding is still loaded, that’s the basis for a lot of the shipboard systems in use today. If I could get a copy of it…”  
  
"Hmmm," Rachi shook her head at the younger twi’lek's enthusiasm. “Getting your geek out moment over with early?”  
  
“A bit, I have time to wander and be impressed at the moment,” Ori replied with a soft laugh. “I doubt that when we’re all in the field I’ll be able to geek out like this. We’ll all have too much to do. Might as well enjoy it while I can.”  
  
“It’s not all going to be taunt delicate extractions of secret holocrons, there’s going to be plenty of tedium, repetition and make work between the real work excitement and I doubt anyone will comment if you geek out while doing that.”  
  
“Naturally, but you don’t think our Masters are going to let the time go to waste, do you? Between the three Knights on this expedition I fully expect that any 'free time' we have will be filled, and not with make work.” Ori flashed her a grin. “Any clue how and why the Explorer corps keeps such old ships around? I would have thought that they were replaced regularly…”  
  
“According to Space Master Ima-Dun-Gud, an old friend of my Masters who has transported us across the galaxy, the service corps are not visible enough for the Senate to give them the budget they deserve, and they’re viewed as old fashioned and too conservative in their design choices so no one wants to cater to their needs in the shipbuilding community,” Rachi shared what she knew freely, missing the way Ori’s eyes narrowed at the mention of their budget being Senatorially controlled, and practically slitted when she continued on about how they were viewed. The idea that ship designers wouldn’t want to push the edge, and create the most high-tech explorer possible was completely out of left field. In his estimation there should have been hundreds of design teams clamouring for their ship to be known as the one which charted the next Corellian Trade Spine. Something was seriously wrong here. “Exploring has been out of fashion for the last millennium, especially these past hundred years. According to the Space Master I talked to, Also, apparently the last couple of designs that were proposed looked good at first blush but… no one came back from the prototype flight expeditions which used them. The old ships got through fine, but the newer ones? Disappeared without a trace somewhere in hyper. So they couldn’t even figure out what went wrong. The best guess anyone has made is that the redundancy in these old designs keep them running even after a major mechanical failure, and newer general purpose designs just don’t have the redundancy to do the job no matter how modified they are to try and fill that gap. The corp would love to commission a design to their specifications but they don’t have the budget to do everything they need to and to sponsor an entirely new line of ships.”  
  
“Custom designs?”  
  
“The Councils, almost all of them, hate that. The Explorers already use their ships as homes, and modify them accordingly, but building one new to an Explorers spec?”  
  
“I can see how that would be an issue,” Ori winced as he considered trying to justify having a ship built to his specifications to Mace Windu. That was a mental image he didn’t need, he could feel his ears ringing even thinking about it. “Newer designs are that bad? I thought that technology was marching on, not going backwards?”  
  
“Not bad per say, just not as rugged. For ship hulls? The new durasteel formula is three times as tough as what we were using even fifty years ago. It’s the more sensitive systems which are an issue, the paradigm these days is for efficiency, so your engine geometry gives you three percent improvement on fuel efficiency but…”  
  
“If you lose one, you lose the entire cluster.” Ori grimaced as he contemplated that. It sounded to him a lot like someone was trying to keep everything contained to the known galaxy and had been for a very long time, which was worrying. He shifted to a slightly different topic, “How does that square with the Consular class being a repeat of the engine geometry of the YG series?”  
  
“That’s a case of the hyper matter plant being poorly designed, along with a really sensitive hyper drive, the Consular class has a massively overpowered plant, and it really doesn’t take well to reducing the power requirements. Too long at too low a load…. Let’s just say the results are spectacular to watch if you’re lucky enough to be in real space and leave it at that. If you try and run it as an all up military ship, then it doesn’t have the fuel capacity to do the job. The hyper drive eats fuel at a prodigious rate, and its sensitivity means imbalances can be… bad. Rip out both of those systems and replace them, well you might as well just buy an entirely new ship. The corp keeps hoping for one of the yards to come up with something they can use without gutting it and rebuilding it from the frame out, but that hasn’t happened yet.”  
  
“How did you find out about that? It doesn’t seem to be something you would be interested in…”  
  
“One of the first ‘digs’ Renee took me on was an abandoned Judicial station orbiting Ithor III, when the Ithorians began to scrap the station they found the remnants of an ancient explorer corp outpost that the entire station had been built around. We worked with a lot of the older explorer corp ship masters and technical corp engineers during that dig, it was fascinating to hear them complain about the issues they were having. Of course, that was in my downtime, most of the time I was looking over artifacts and systems that dated from the Great Galactic War, now those were properly redundant. Not powerful enough to use today but…” Rachi began to tell the story, happy to have such an attentive listener for once. It wasn’t often someone in her age group let her rattle on about her profession without either mocking or quickly losing interest and focus.

* * *

The stars were beautiful, and while seeing them like this with no atmosphere in the way wasn’t completely unknown to Ori, he rarely got a chance to just sit and appreciate them. There was a certain majesty to their formations, a million points of light sprawled across the heavens for any sentient to see and appreciate. Even in this artificial system, their glory was well worth taking the time to appreciate, even if his appreciation at that exact moment had less to do with their inherent beauty and more to do with procrastinating.  
  
“I know you don’t enjoy the stars that much Ori, come back and join us,” Skrath radioed from where he was anchored to the Illuminating Light with Renee, Rachi, and their instructor in EVA operations Pathfinder Justine Dall.  
  
“Proper contemplation of the universe is something all Jedi should take the time to do,” Ori sent back as he feathered his jump pack to land beside the other Jedi.  
  
“Of course, it is,” Renee interrupted, exasperation tingeing her tone. “But not when a Padawan should be learning, you will have time enough later. First the sensor exercises.”  
  
Ori grimaced in the privacy of his suit. He knew this would benefit him in the long run but he really didn’t want to fully open himself to the Force when he was in this close in proximity to what felt like actual Sith artifacts. The looming bulk of the half-destroyed Harrower class showed him they were present in no uncertain terms. He chewed his lip for a moment and then triggered his radio.  
  
“Is there any possibility we could do this in less… fraught space?”  
  
“Less fraught?” Rachi asked, her voice seeming to convey disapproval.  
  
“There’s a kriffing Sith dreadnought hanging over our heads at the moment,” Ori replied keeping his voice as dry as possible. “I don’t know about you but I don’t want to feel the imprint they left behind even if it is gutted.”  
  
"This is the best place to do so, since it's in a controlled environment,” Renee answered calmly. “The fact you recognize what the Harrower is, and are smart enough to be wary of it is commendable, but you need to learn to deal with the imprints Sith leave on their possessions here rather than on a remote site parsecs away and days to months away from level one support."  
  
“Agreed,” Skrath said shortly, his voice betraying a tension which hadn’t been there before. “Is the Sith hulk all we need to worry about or are there more traps out here?”  
  
“Most of the boneyard contains Republic wrecks,” Justine replied in a calm, instructive tone. “The Sith only made it to Corellia once, while Republic ships were and are scrapped here regularly. There are ten relatively intact Sith wrecks cataloged besides the Harrower, and they are kept separate from each other to diminish their aura in the Force. Does that answer your question?"  
  
"Yes." Skrath replied, channeling the reassurance Justine was pouring into the Force to isolate a small but white hot spark of anxiety away from the rest of his feelings... for the moment at least.  
  
"Good. Renee, if you will?" Justine deferred.  
  
Renee continued the lesson in an enthusiastic voice that only years of experience working under such conditions could impart "Now that you all are familiar with the basic functionality of your EVA suits, we are going to be moving on to the introductory workshop for one of the most important skills that Jedi Archaeologists have developed. Before we begin are you all locked to the hull?”  
  
Ori quickly checked that his maglock boots were engaged and then threw his arm out to give a quick thumbs up. “This technique isn’t in common use, and it can be dangerous, so pay very close attention to your physical surroundings even as you use your Force sense. What I want you to do is gently, very gently, extend the Force into the sensor pack of your suit and enhance it. If you use too much power then it wont work, this is detail work so think like you’re using a brush to uncover what the sensors would have shown you if they were just a little bit better rather then using a compressed air gun. If you use too much then you are going to be overwhelmed, and remember the computers on these suits aren’t going to see and record what the sensor system shows you, so properly documenting the results depends on you.”  
  
Following the guide Renee was providing in the Force as much as her verbal instructions, Ori steeled himself before opening a tiny gap in what he pictured as Great War style barbed wire fencing between himself and the Force, not willing to use more than that with a Sith artifact hanging so close to his head, pushing the commands into the sensor pack. Immediately the sensors cleared up and he noted that not only had the resolution improved, but the range had increased by a hundred meters or more. All of which meant he could see a few more floating bolts and scraps of metal, admittedly in greater clarity then before, but little else. Rather than increasing the amount of Force he was using, he concentrated on those scraps, trying to feel if any of them had a negative aura. He wanted to know just what the Harrower would feel like before he tackled sensing it. The difference between the Rule of Two's smothering veil and this... proud belligerence could hardly be more different. Having a nuanced idea of the kind of imprint the Sith had left behind would prepare him for the larger wreck, he hoped. Out of the hundred or so pieces one had the distinct feel of despair to it and he instinctively knew that it had come from the dreadnought hanging over their heads.  
  
“Skrath, use less power, I can feel you from here. You’re using a fire hose when you want a watering can.” Renee’s voice was a reassuring presence, keeping him grounded in the now. “Rachi, I know you know how to do this so there is no reason to hide. Don’t worry about the others and how they will react. Ori, just a touch more power, you almost have it.”  
  
“I can tell one out of the hundred bits of scrap in the immediate vicinity came off a Sith ship already,” Ori replied, keeping his concentration and his Force use locked down outside of his point of focus. He was concentrating on that lone bit of scrap, contemplating it and trying to get a sense of how it would feel when magnified exponentially. A lone bit of despair was easy to handle, he had been forced to learn that back at the Temple when he had been an Initiate, but a sea of despair and worse besides? That would be a rather different kettle of fish. “I really don’t want to extend my range further then I absolutely have too.”  
  
“Really? Can you point out which one?” Renee’s voice was gentle as she spoke, almost as if she was calming a large animal. Renee could feel his disquiet and nerves from where she was standing, and while she wanted to push him, she willed herself to let the Padawan work at his own pace as long as he completed the assignment. Ori checked the sensor pack’s positioning system and memorized the bearing.  
  
“Three hundred and fifty degrees horizontal by twenty-three degrees vertical and forty three point four meters out from my position, according to my pack,” Ori replied.  
  
“Very good,” Renee approved of his precision. “That’s excellent work. Pathfinder Dall? Would you be a dear and take over walking Skrath through this exercise? Rachi knows it well enough that I have no worries about her, but this level of precision the first time out requires my full attention.”  
  
“Understood,” Justine sounded vaguely amused as she jetted across the hull to stand right next to Skrath and connected her suit to his with a hard line, intent on giving the young Knight a bit of one on one instruction.  
  
“Now Ori, I want you to increase your range. You don’t have to go far, but I want you to at least reach the Harrower,” Renee’s voice was soft and coaxing. She had a feeling that Ori’s inherent paranoia was both a help and hindrance going forward with this exercise, it was obviously keeping him alert and vigilant, but she needed him to know what Sith ships and ruins felt like. While the artifacts of this particular hulk had been purged centuries ago, it would give him an idea of what he was going to be dealing with, and prepare him for unexplored wrecks, ruins and other places where the Dark side would radiate with a far stronger intensity. Renee worried over how to guide Ori into controlling his paranoia so he could use it to navigate the auroras of pain, hate and despair which radiated from such places without being debilitated... although a tiny part of her wondered at her own confidence that Ori would be debilitated rather than tempted.  
  
Ori took a deep breath and slowly, cautiously, pushed just a trickle more Force through the sensor pack. He noted the expanded range and clarity, but there still wasn’t anything of note on its display. Just more debris, really you would think that someone would have come through the boneyard with a giant magnet and at least tried to clean up a bit of that he thought grumpily. It would be cheap enough, and probably profitable as long as you did it right. Of course, you would need to get clearance from the SDF and the Green Temple, but he imagined that would be easily enough to do. Silently he grimaced as he realized he was procrastinating, avoiding the exercise in favor of letting his mind wander. Slowly he allowed his connection to widen again, loosening his blockade an inch at a time, only to recoil when his enhanced sensors hit the very edge of the Harrower.  
  
The sense of despair, pain and utter hatred was throbbing in the Force like an infected cut... Worse, and Ori thought this was likely a problem only to him, the Force felt more like a living thing, or maybe living THINGS as it was both the animal wounded and the raging infection, than anywhere else he could recall. Ori paused, the image of Yoda fighting Sidious in the Senate suddenly coming to him, specifically the scene where Yoda was concentrating and nullifying the Sith Lord's lighting... and while the details of that technique were subjective and unique to the Grandmaster's perspective and command of the Force, there was something basic that could be learned. Ori paused and shifted his mental barbed wire defenses that were unwittingly feeding the passions swirling around him into an amorphous transparent ball of abstraction and rationality that evoked nothing other than determination. While it was a far cry from what Yoda had done, it allowed Ori to press his senses up to the dead warship and past that outermost layer of loathing before he dissipated it. Ori shuddered as the spell of despair crafted by Sith very different from Sidious fell open around him and he took a moment to marvel at its complexity and strength even now a thousand years later and from a hulk he could now see wasn't full of hidden relics, but truly stripped to the bones with the marrow cored out.  
  
He thought that he knew what to expect from the Harrower, a gaping chasm of darkness, rotting in open space, but once past that outer defense, all that remained is an imprint, an impression on the Force, which he could feel had slowly been smoothed out over the years. Almost as if the Force was flowing over the hull, like a stream, slowly filling in the depressions caused by the Sith with the silt of the universe until all that remained was contained in the ship's metal alone. The only way he could tell where the actual relics and artifacts had been was the delineation between the generalized despair which the hull seemed to be made up of and the pools of more 'neutral' Force which had come to rest where the darkness had been surgically removed. The sharp dividing edges were clear now to his enhanced senses, razor sharp without blending even after all this time.  
  
Taking a deep breath Ori expanded his connection to the Force even further, directing it through the sensor pack as if it didn’t come from within. This was a technique he liked, much to his surprise, the detachment that the sensor pack being there gave him allowed Ori to convince himself that the Force wasn’t acting on him, he was just directing it to act through the sensors. As the connection widened, more of the Harrower came into range, and he could see more impressions left by evil acts. His Force sense alerting him to the pain, anger, and fear once felt by those who resided, fought, and died on the ship on top of its general aura of despair and pain. The background throb of infection was creeping back as it fed on the emotional residue of the others, the Dark side seemingly inherent to the fibers and ores of the hull, and then it surged back a bit as it 'grasped' Ori's own curiosity, and he quickly wrenched that emotion back behind his mental barriers.  
  
“Not as disconcerting as I thought it would be,” Ori radioed softly, running his eyes over the Harrower to match where his Force derived sensor readings were coming from. He could see where entire sections of the hull had been removed, matching where he could feel dark side concentrations had been excised. “What’s left is like an infected scrape, not truly dangerous, but annoying in that it reminds you of its existence constantly. I doubt I would be comfortable living on such a ship but, for just seeing what’s there? The danger seems to have long past.”  
  
“You are sure of that?” Renee questioned, her voice level.  
  
“I can… feel, I think is the best way to describe it, where there were greater dangers once contained on this ship, but they aren’t there anymore. It has impressions left behind by evil, but not the substance? Someone took a cutting torch to the hull and removed the major spots of dark side energy.”  
  
“And yet you describe the ship itself as an infected scrape?”  
  
“Yes, not wrong but disconcerting. There’s something off about it, but I can’t feel more than that.”  
  
“Very well done,” Renee’s voice filled with approval. “I see your Master wasn’t wrong about how sensitive you can be, when you put your mind to it. Rachi, would you care to enlighten Ori of just what he’s feeling?”  
  
“The Sith Empire had a practice of darkening a ship's very being, aligning it with the dark side, which started in the foundries and mines that provided the ships metal. They used slaves exclusively in the mining of the ores, and then during the smelting process the Sith Lord in charge of production would cast defeated rivals, failures, or Force sensitive prisoners of war into the ore crucibles alive... What you are feeling is the impression of the misery of the slaves and the torment of the sacrificed."  
  
“That would certainly do it..." Ori shivered "...and none of the slaves sabotaged production?” Ori asked, if that was the case, he would have expected that there would be bright spots of hope, and more savage spots of vengeance, to feel in the hull not a generalized sense of despair and pain.  
  
“There are records of slave uprisings, but most only happened when the populations in question were on the front lines or at the end of the war. While the Sith were oftentimes their own worst enemies when it came to each other, they weren’t idiots when it came to those they saw and treated as lesser than them,” Renee said smoothly taking over for her Padawan. “From the point where the production process went to component manufacturing, they used droids, and final assembly was done by free beings who served the Sith willingly. At least that’s what we have learned through examining what ships and structures survived.”  
  
“There are texts that still exist which say the Sith used slaves for everything but…” Rachi put in, her voice colored with doubt.  
  
“That doesn’t match what we have found so it is almost certainly wartime propaganda rather then fact.” Renee’s approval of her Padawans interjection was impossible for Ori not to feel. “A lot of the texts that remain from that time period have issues, mostly due to only the most popular being saved for the last couple of millennia. The dark age did real damage to our understanding of the time period, a lot of the lore and history was lost. It doesn’t help that the main Temple was reluctant to allow so called heretical texts that weren't inherently dangerous Sith holocrons needing containment into the archives when Quist shut down the satellite Temples after Ruusan and standardized everything. Do you feel anything worth investigating Ori?”  
  
“No, there isn’t anything here.” Ori replied with a shake of his head that no one could see. “I suppose the composition of the alloys and a metallurgical analysis could be interesting to do but I doubt that hasn’t been done a thousand times before.”  
  
“I’m glad you got this technique so quickly and I can feel from here that Rachi is already fed up with doing this exercise yet again,” Renee said with a laugh she continued to tease her Padawan. “I understand, it’s something you’ve done a thousand times before. Still, practicing the basics is always a good thing to do, remember…”  
  
“A strong foundation makes for a solid house,” Rachi sent, her voice tinged with fondness and exasperation. She had heard the proverb regularly for years, applying to everything from her writing to learning new uses of the Force.  
  
“Right you are. Now, on to the second part of learning this skill. You can’t just cut the Force off from the sensor pack, right now it’s acting as if it’s providing additional circuits and relays to enhance the sensors. If you cut it off too quickly then you can damage the sensor pack as the electronics try to continue as they were without the Force providing direction. That can have catastrophic results.” Renee’s voice was calm and collected even as her Force sense washed over the two Padawans, sensing if they had any discomfort or if feeling the Harrower had affected them in any deeper way. She had no worries about Rachi, but this was the first time Ori had encountered an artifact like this and his sensitivity made him vulnerable to its effects. “Now, gently, begin to pull back the amount of Force you are using. If you get even a twinge of warning stop, and wait for it to go away before you continue. As you do that, I want you to tell me how much sweet air you have left, and how much power.”  
  
“Forty four hours, forty minutes of air,” Rachi replied promptly her voice assured. “Thirty minutes of power.”  
  
“Forty four hours, thirty minutes of air,” Ori’s answer is just a tad bit slower, and he glanced at the HUD to see his power level and blanched. There was no way that was possible, he should have more then enough power left, but his levels were dropping right before his eyes. It was all he could do to keep from cutting the Force he fed into the sensor array, to step it down slowly instead of cutting it off, and his hand flew over the built-in keyboard bringing up the power distribution display. Suppressing a curse, he continued his report in a strained voice, showing his uncertainty to everyone who was listening. “Power level is at ten minutes and falling…”  
  
“You just noticed?” Renee asked, Ori was surprised to hear a distinct lack of concern from her.  
  
“Yes Master,” his response was filled with worried shame. While the terrifying trope of running out of air in space was mostly subverted in this galaxy, with his suit's life support able to stretch what would be a thirty minute supply of oxygen in his first life into days of good smelling air and then able to keep him alive for weeks afterward utilizing both the suit's main power as well as its own separate battery, that main power was its own story. He knew he should have been keeping an eye on his power no matter what he was doing. That he had lost site of those indicators was a damning indictment of his attention span.  
  
“Keep a closer eye on it next time,” Renee didn’t condemn him, much to his shock. If he had been the instructor, he would have grounded anyone who made such a basic, and potentially deadly, mistake in a heartbeat. “This is your first time out, I expected something like this to come up. Book learning only goes so far, you need to make mistakes out here to really have it driven into your psyche and take hold. That said, is your power level stabilizing or is it still falling?”  
  
Ori checked his HUD again, his silent self-recriminations ringing through his head, and was relieved to find that the power level had stabilized. It seemed he wouldn’t end up in a dead suit today, needing to be brought back inside by the others. “Stabilized now.”  
  
“Very good, how close are you to shutting down your technique?”  
  
“Almost done,” Ori replied, only to have his reply mingle with Rachi’s, "done."  
  
“Then I believe it is time for us to get out of the black, we have a bit of a trip before we do our second spacewalk. I believe it would be best if the two of you complete the written exam on EVA operations while we reposition the ship. And Ori? I will have a secondary test just for you so reread the book.”  
  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
“Written exam, what a joke,” Ori grumbled as he manhandled the armor plating covering the EVA suits oxygen supply back into place. “The written portion of the pilot’s exam was more complicated. That was disgustingly simple.”  
  
“You believe it should have been harder?” Justine's voice was soft but held a slight edge letting Ori know he had better have a decent answer for her. She had been assigned to make sure he could actually pull maintenance on his suit without screwing anything up and had been watching his actions with an eagle eye. So far, he hadn’t disappointed her, his technical skills were certainly acceptable, especially for a Jedi on the Knight track and not in the service corps.  
  
“Yes.” Ori replied flatly finally getting the armor back into place. He pulled the electric drill up and began to fasten down the panels. “Vacuum is not forgiving, I know this intellectually, but it should have been hammered home so that I know it emotionally. The written exam should have covered what to do in an emergency, how to patch your suit, each and every emergency procedure the committee which wrote it could think of, and how to calculate a trajectory for a long-term burn should you detach from your vessel.”  
  
“All of which we are covering with a series of space walks,” Justine didn’t indicate agreement or disagreement, her voice was somewhat flat. “The philosophy behind EVA training generally is that you learn by doing, rather then reading. It gives you a better grounding.”  
  
“True, but the test is so bad it's more a basic literacy test designed to collect licencing fees than test the applicant's knowledge. Now every time I need to hire someone and I see they are vacuum rated for repairs I’m going to be left wondering if they’re actually qualified or if they just took the test.” Ori got the last bolt fastened down and pushed the suit back into its frame before beginning to take off the cover for the sensor pack. Most of the maintenance he had done had been routine, just checking to make sure everything was still in place, but this next bit he would need to concentrate on. “We are keeping the same suits throughout this expedition, aren’t we?”  
  
“Yes, we are,” Justine looked amused as she said that. “Planning to do a bit of modification?”  
  
“I burned a lot of power with the technique we were learning… I think there’s a loose connection or two in the sensor system and it's been compensating. The alternate explanation is that I did something wrong and there is going to be burn patterns from where the energy was forced through and it could have damaged something.”  
  
“All viable options, so what is your solution?”  
  
“A secondary power bus should ease the energy transfer without interfering with anything when I’m not using that technique. It would also give my Force sense guidance as to where the energy needs to go without damaging anything. A couple of welds and everything should be in order and have a lower energy drain when I need to use that technique. I have a couple of extra boards as well, took them from the repair parts, so I can replace anything that’s damaged.”  
  
“And the dish?” Justine pointed to the over sized dish Ori had dragged out of their repair stocks. She had a feeling she knew where he was going with that, after all his ship gave her a pretty good idea about just how he felt for sensors. The oversized system he had installed was being given a very close examination while he was off the ship by the technical corps personal. It was a modification that she felt had potential, especially given that he'd somehow managed to fit the suite comfortably into the ship's power budget. Better sensor arrays were one of the deciding factors when they went looking for ships, and if Ori’s modification became standard it could substantially widen the pool of ships which would be acceptable to the corp.  
  
“I might install it, assuming the data bus can handle everything… not sure though..." Ori pondered a moment, "I need to get a look at what’s inside here before I decide. The technical notes were lacking, and I haven’t had a chance to look up the schematics for this particular model. We got hustled off ship pretty fast, didn’t have the time to do the usual background research…”  
  
“Investigators,” Justine laughed. “You are all so procedural. Still, it's nice to see that Master Coris brought professionals with her. We could have gotten away without calling in one of the Space Masters for this particular jaunt.”  
  
“Not to be too impertinent,” Ori finally got the last screw out and pulled the cover off the electronic guts of the sensor system. He ran his eyes over the boards and tsked, he had pushed the sensor power bus to the brink of failure in the way he'd commanded the Force. Giving the sensors power from the Force would've required opening himself to it in a way he was abjectly unwilling to do, and so they had drawn power solely from the batteries, draining them and severely overloading the regulators, that would be a problem for the future. Gently he began to pull the boards and lay them out on the work bench beside the suit rack. “But what can you tell me about the Explorer corps? I don’t remember more then the basic briefing all initiates get, and that was minimal at best.”  
  
“Ah, want to know who you’re working with?”  
  
“Naturally,” Ori worked to pull the last of the boards out frowning at the number. From what he remembered from the manual there should have been eight of them. He only had six. With a grunt he pulled the repair manual from its place of pride above the work bench and set it down, flipping to the index and looking for the page number of the exploded schematic. “That and the general culture.”  
  
“First thing you have to understand is that we’re a service corp, not Knights. We operate on a different dynamic. We’re still Jedi but…”  
  
“Let me guess, Ruusan's had less of an effect on your practices.”  
  
“Got it in one, we don’t take the vows that city Knights take…”  
  
“Corellian?” Ori smirked.  
  
“It’s that obvious?”  
  
“Only people I know of who call the Coruscant Temple city Jedi,” Ori replied with a chuckle. His hand flipping the pages to the part of the book he needed.  
  
“Born and bred, didn’t like the thought of becoming a Knight though, too much running around chasing people and not enough time shipboard. Explorers fit me right, so after a bit of meditation, I made the switch. I’m in the minority though these days unfortunately, too many of the initiates are being reassigned with little regards for the will of the Force, take the time to talk with some of the old sweats and they’ll complain about it endlessly.” Justine noted what Ori was doing with hidden approval. He was passing her tests, which meant she could open up a bit to him. “Anyway, mostly we map the black. Lots of runs around wild space and the like so we tend to see a bit more action then you would think.”  
  
“No saber though…”  
  
“Haven’t felt the call of a crystal yet. We are allowed to have them,” Justine admitted with a shrug. “That and a blaster can be set to stun. Helps with the follow up negotiations with new species if you haven’t slaughtered them in job lots defending yourself. Your piece is interesting new model?”  
  
“Pre-production run from blastec,” Ori answered as he studied the book, then he went over to the suit and poked at the power bus where the boards had been mounted. As expected, two of the circuits had been bridged with a bit of wire, reducing the sensors performance at long range. He popped out the wires and held them up to the light then let out a small chuckle. “Testing is a bit more extensive then you’re letting us know isn’t it?”  
  
“I’m surprised you let me know you caught on.”  
  
“Be a bit hard to hide it,” Ori said ruefully as he disposed of the wires. “You are watching me and weren’t surprised that the sensors had been reduced in capacity. Given I know you aren’t an idiot, this had to be some sort of test, better to get that out in the open before I start chasing down who had the suit before, where it was purchased, and if this was a sabotage attempt or the company cutting corners.”  
  
“True, I would have stopped you before it got that far though, no sense in you wasting your time when there’s learning to do. Not looking for more ‘faults’?”  
  
“You were careful about how you did it, the suit doesn’t have many systems which aren’t survival critical. The only places you could safely make modifications for me to catch were the sensors and the valve emptying the fluid reserves, which I already checked. Ironically, reducing the sensors probably saved me some concern considering I would've completely fried the sensor power bus and maybe even the mains bus while attempting Renee's technique with all eight boards.”  
  
“Fair point, and I was wondering how you could get such a clean reading with all the Dark side interference. I'll requisition you extra batteries and have the techs meditate on coming up with a more substantial power bus... for now though you should probably reduce the boards to four.”  
  
“I thought so as well, anyway hand me one of the spare boards and keep talking, I do actually want to know this stuff before I put my foot in it.”  
  
“As you like,” Justine handed him a board and began to talk. “We’re organized by ship and flotilla; titles depend far more on what you’re qualified to do than seniority...” She paused, and Ori heard the unspoken grumble of 'for now' loud and clear. "For example, I’m a Pathfinder, that means I’m qualified to run a single person scout ship on extended missions and scout out new hyper lanes. Aside from Apprentices there are no official ranks of Pathfinders. Next is Navigator, you qualify for that by demonstrating command of a crewed ship on a more complicated survey or expedition. The rank of Space Master came about only in the last century, they are qualified to command an entire flotilla and are there to interact with the rest of the Order, mostly to smooth ruffled feathers on any side”  
  
“Issues?”  
  
“Too many of the Firstys think because they’re Knights, they can just follow their own will without consideration for the people around them." Ori winced inwardly as Justine's resentment rose. Firsty... first pick... he doubted most Jedi of the Temple even knew of that service corps slur... "Given we haven’t had the right to use the title Master since Ruusan, we needed an equivalent rank to sit on the more aggressive Knights we interact with. It doesn’t help that too many of them consider us wash outs and rejects, they don’t respect the work we put in to our path.”  
  
“That sounds trying,” Ori slid the first board into position and frowned as he compared its pristine surface with the burns on the used boards. Grabbing a bit of wire, he welded it onto the board where it wouldn’t interfere with anything but if he used the Force the electricity would have an easier path than just jumping to position. “Anything I need to know when interacting with you all? I mean taboos and the like just so I don’t step on any toes?”  
  
"You've got a proper respect to you, so mostly just keep being yourself in not telling people their business but also in not taking any guff. Specifically though, don’t comment on any sabers you see, unless invited,” Justine shook her head, remembering the first Knight she had met and his disastrous interaction with the Navigator who was charged with getting him to his destination. He had apparently thought that only city Jedi had the right to wear a saber, not Jedi in general.  
  
“Good to know,” Ori finished his welding on the clean boards and frowned as he looked at the used boards he had pulled. They looked a little bit too burned for him to trust them, but he wasn’t an expert here. “I’m inclined to replace the lot of these, any objection?”  
  
“They’ll work for a year at most given the damage you did to them,” Justine commented as she looked at the boards. “Junk them all or you’re going to be pulling and replacing them and the new boards when they fail and the replacements need to take the load.”

* * *

“If you didn’t want to be dragged into following me then you should have found something to investigate on your own,” Rachi’s said playfully over the radio as the two Padawans sped towards one of the wrecks in the 'spares' part of the boneyard. Ships here were uneconomical to completely strip and so were towed out to this corner until the very occasional customer came along or a culling team swept through and sent the hulk to be be wholly broken up and mixed with freshly mined ores. For the past week they had been doing up to three spacewalks a day in all parts of the yard, Justine and the explorer corps instructors were absolutely merciless in making sure everyone displayed not just adequacy, but excellence in operating their EVA suits in both normal and emergency situations. Ori had taken it with good cheer and enthusiasm, the black was dangerous and being fully trained to operate in it might be exhausting but would save his life.  
  
“Because investigating just what I could make my sensors do was clearly me malingering,” Ori shot back, suppressing his laughter at the teasing. “What’s so special about this particular Hammerhead, there are hundreds of identical ships here after all…”  
  
“Just a feeling,” Rachi replied coyly.  
  
“A ‘feeling’ or a feeling?” Ori asked, his discomfort growing with every meter of their approach. Hunches were one thing, but if this was Force based… they could very well end up deeper than they could handle very quickly.  
  
“Relax, we’re the only ship out here, what could go wrong?”  
  
“You had to say that!” Ori replied while wildly twisting as if he expected a ship to burst out of hyperspace at any moment, and run them over. “Now I know we aren’t just going to face scavengers, but a full-blown pirate raid, which Corsec with respond to with an all up fleet, and we’ll be stuck in the middle of a fleet battle in our suits with no way to effect it.”  
  
“Relax,” Rachi laughed at Ori’s pronouncement. “Did you bring the tools?”  
  
“Everything we need to take off hull plating, and a cutter.”  
  
“You do know my lightsaber is rated for vacuum, right?”  
  
“And we will still be using the cutter, because I’m going to want you covering me while I work and I didn’t bring any vacuum rated weapons.”  
  
“Paranoid.”  
  
“Damn straight I am,” Ori settled his magnetic boots onto the hull they had been aiming for. “So, what’s the name and history?”  
  
“The Starfall, served with the Republic through the cold war, disappeared for a bit, and then was back in Republic service in time for the next round of the war,” Rachi replied distractedly. “Follow me, we need to get into the hull.”  
  
“You sure you don’t want to take a sensor read?” Ori felt his eyebrow rising at Rachi’s certainty.  
  
“I’ve been feeling the currents of the Force since we set out, nothing active you understand but…”  
  
“It’s been leading you on...” Ori’s anxiousness at hearing that clear in his voice. He thought about how to counter her, entirely logical for a Jedi, idea, but couldn’t really find an argument that would work. “It would make me feel a bit better if we took the time to look into what we’re getting into. Traipsing around the gutted hull of a ship is going to be creepy enough without the uncertainty factor. At least try for a scan before we go in…”  
  
“This isn’t a holovid Ori, your paranoia isn’t going to be validated here in the least,” He could hear Rachi’s eye roll clearly over the radio.  
  
“I maintain that narrative causality is a part of the Force, and the historical record is clear on that.”  
  
“I don’t want to hear it.” Rachi’s voice held an annoyed edge as she said that. “I know that you think you have evidence to back up that conspiracy theory of yours, but your evidence remains wholly undermined by selection bias. For every last-minute heroic rescue that a well known Jedi pulled off there are tens, if not hundreds, of smaller acts which resulted in positive outcomes. Those small acts aren’t remembered by the public at large, which includes you, though because they are so normal and pedestrian. Only the large narrative important acts are put into the history books. For example, I know you've cited the Seventh Ruusan as evidence since the mainstream histories credit General Nadine's masterful planning, leadership and execution, but while of course Nadine's contribution was important, most First Knowledge scholars of that battle and war credit Knight Dravit Hartok for removing upwards of half of the Sith's forces before the battle even started through a few well placed words to his intelligence contacts and the subsequent coup in the Brotherhood of Darkness and the defeat of the Sith. Despite his and his agent's actions, their contribution is almost completely unknown to modern day scholars, instead they focus on the larger than life personalities and write polemics about them.”  
  
Dravit Hartok... the name resonated... strangely... in the Force around Ori, as though it would be familiar to him, but instead of inquiring further, he immediately shot back, “Defeat of that particular incarnation of the Sith. We know that the Sith aren’t gone, how else would Kenobi have won the appellation Sith killer if they no longer existed?”  
  
“A quibble against my more cogent point about your theory.”  
  
“If nothing else then perhaps a sensor reading would give us a map of just where we are exploring?” Ori retreated back to the matter at hand, he would clearly need different evidence to persuade Rachi that the truth behind his theory was more than just him being paranoid or ornery.  
  
Rachi immediately put the distraction behind her, redoubling her focus, “We do have the plans for this class in our suit computers you know…”  
  
“General plans, do you know which shipyard this Hammerhead came out of? Do you have to as built plans for this particular ship? And more importantly, do you know everything that was cut out before they left this ship out here?"  
  
“Do you have to have an actual point?” Rachi was clearly pouting, but he could feel the Force explode off of her as she enhanced her sensors. It didn’t take long before the presence lessened, and he could feel her confusion on just what she had felt clearly. “Now that’s interesting…”  
  
“Something relevant?”  
  
“Feel for yourself,” Rachi replied distractedly. “I’m not quite sure what I felt but there’s something here, something worth looking for beyond my initial expectations.”  
  
“What were you expecting?” Ori gently let down his barriers and pushed a bit of Force into his sensor pack. As conversant with this technique as he had become, he still tended towards caution when using it. From everything he had learned the dangers weren’t the same ones as he'd anticipated, his cautious nature having created a new danger in the power drain his suit experienced every time he used this technique. In the end he and Justine had ended up adding a not just one, but two additional battery ports to his suit to make his setup truly hot swappable while in the middle of a scan while allowing enough power for him to have around three fourths the time of his comrades on one set of batteries. Renee hadn’t wanted to go along with his modification, but given the undeniable advantage his take on the technique brought, she and Justine had decided that modifying his suit was safer then waiting for him to get the technique the correct way. He had a feeling that she knew more, but hadn’t asked her about it yet. He had time after all.  
  
The sensors cleared up, ending his musing on the mystery that had been the reactions to his difficulties and he grimaced. For the most part everything on the ship was clear, but he could sense a bright flare where there shouldn’t be one. There was something Force active on this ship after all, how it hadn’t been found was a mystery though. Plotting out where it was was, that easy though, its very distinctive signature meant it could be on three decks, and in any one of six compartments.  
  
“This is going to be fun,” Ori sighed as he said that, his mind engaged as he figured out a route towards the bright spot on the sensor returns. “I’ve got a rough location, but unless you have clearer guidance than I do we have a couple of floors to search…”  
  
“Not really, unless the object is designed to be deceptive, then it could be anywhere in the distorted returns.”  
  
“I think it might be, designed to be deceptive that is, its signature has greater vertical presence then horizontal…”  
  
“That could be its shape,” Rachi imparted her wisdom easily. “The shape of an object, especially a Force active or reactive one, can have an effect on its Force presence. For example, the facets of a saber crystal will make the sensor returns using this technique distort… though I don’t think that’s what we’re seeing here.”  
  
“Any clue just what it is?”  
  
“Not yet,” Rachi pushed herself down and into the ship, “We’ll have to find out, now come on. Our best bet is the deck five levels down from this entrance.”  
  
“Joy,” was Ori’s only response as he followed her into the dark. Without internal power or the light of the stars to illuminate it, the interior of the ship yawned like a black hole just waiting to swallow the two Padawans. Not even turning on their spot lights changed that appearance appreciably. The lights on their suits seemed to dim as they made their way through the hull, their feeble glow barely illuminating the halls, leaving each open door to loom with a darkness which reminded Ori forcibly of them being cut outs of the universe. It made him shiver and check his battery level, before hurrying behind Rachi, who didn’t seem bothered by any of it.  
  
Things got worse as they made their way towards the empty lift shafts, marks on the floor which Ori knew came from heavy equipment being excised from the hull sparked in the light. The dull hull metal showing where layers of paint and floor coating had been gouged out, on all surfaces, giving the impression of finger marks where a being had been dragged out of the ship, fighting all the way, their claws desperately scrambling against anything they could reach. That was in the better maintained sections, where there was still paint. Other sections of hall had been stripped, the hull metal showing through clearly, with deep scratches and burn marks Ori couldn’t dismiss as mundane salvage work. Those sections made him think that a battle had been fought here in ages past, and never properly cleaned up. A bright splash of red paint in the middle of one of those dilapidated sections made him jump. It looked like a splash of fresh blood at first glance.  
  
Ori’s hesitation and jumpiness, wasn’t something that Rachi missed. She could clearly see how as they went further into the ship Ori’s nerves seemed to stretch, his motions getting choppier as he searched for a threat she knew wasn’t there. It was interesting for her to see it, because he clearly didn’t have a problem with the darkness, something about this ship was setting him off. Or perhaps it was the mission? He tended to be rather vocal about his dislike of the Force 'meddling' with him, but she had taken that to be hyperbole. Of course, it could be that ridiculous conspiracy theory he had put together, seeing as she was acting on Force given instincts. Maybe he thought that the roof was going to come crashing down due to narrative causality. Rachi hoped that nothing went wrong as they worked their way towards the lift shafts, because if it did, he was going to be insufferable with the I told you so’s, and it would be impossible to convince him that he was patently wrong, as was obvious to any logical sentient.  
  
Still perhaps a bit of reassurance wouldn’t be completely amiss. The way he kept grabbing at his plasma cutter was starting to make her nervous even though she could sense no other life nor any taint of the Dark side. It wasn’t a bad choice for an improvised weapon, especially given they were in vacuum, but she was right beside him with a saber if anything went wrong. That train of thought got the two of them to the lift shafts where she paused to let her Force sense out, not with the traditional sensing, but instead sticking to her sensor pack. Then she consulted the map she had made using the sensors without the Force and nodded. They were in the right place, just a few decks down and they would be within the epicentre of the distortion.  
  
“I’ve got our path on sensors, sending your copy now,” Rachi said pleasantly. “Just a few decks down and then a short walk towards the aft of the ship.”  
  
“She’s not a ship anymore,” Ori replied, his voice seeming to have gotten rather grim during their short walk. “Her soul was cut out a long time ago…”  
  
“Object, not person.”  
  
“I wouldn’t say that you’re objectively wrong but…”  
  
“Spacer superstition doesn’t have a place in proper archaeological excavations. Besides, her 'soul' as you put it would have drifted away over the centuries. Ships only have that resonance in the Force because of the life they carry. The longer they sit, the less resonance they have, unless its baked into their very marrow and the Jedi abandoned those practices long before this ship's time."  
  
“Doesn’t change the fact that it feels wrong in here, and not in a dark side way…”  
  
“Hmmm…” Rachi contemplated what Ori said and thought about how to respond. “All things have a life cycle, don’t let the fact she’s long since gone to her rest get to you.”  
  
“True, it’s just unpleasant to notice the difference between this hulk and a working ship. The... whatever it is up ahead is reacting to our Force presence in a way I'm only now consciously recognizing."  
  
“This is the first time you’ve been out without a set of tasks to carry out,” Rachi replied as she bounded down the lift shaft. Bouncing from wall to wall so that she wasn’t left floating without a point of contact. Her maneuvering pack had plenty of time left on its jets, but she tended to want to conserve her fuel just as a habit. There were times when she and Renee had needed that extra juice to get out of sticky situations and frugality had stuck with her since then. “Without the distraction you’re feeling the hulk properly. Make sure you mention the disquiet you feel to Master Coris, or Kri if she intimidates you too much.”  
  
“I will,” Ori followed Rachi down the shaft with a slight feathering of his maneuvering pack rather then bouncing behind her. “I don’t know if that’s really what has me so wound up though.”  
  
“Whatever it is, keep a lid on it, we’re almost there.” Rachi pushed herself out of the shaft and proceeded down the corridor. She knew she was getting closer but… the closer she got to the epicentre of the disturbance the more distorted her Force sense became. Something down here was calling to her, but where it was remained a mystery. Taking a side corridor, she came to a halt as her senses told her she was still on the right path. That was annoying, it seemed that the object, whatever it was, wasn't just Force reactive, but Force active as well. She had only experienced something like this once before when she and her Master had gone to a long abandoned asteroid base looking for a purported stash of Force healing crystals. The lack of life in the base had left the Force active crystals hard to localize, their presence in the Force expanding because of a lack of resistance.  
  
It wasn’t a phenomenon which happened on planets, or even working bases in the black. It only happened when you went into a long dead rock or hulk in space. Renee had explained it to her simply; without life to push back on a Force presence it would expand beyond all reasonable limits seeking out connection. Given how long this ship had been abandoned in the bone yards, Rachi was morally certain that what they were looking for had started off as a small Force active object, perhaps a saber crystal or the like? The other possibility was it was a just initiated holocron, because one with a more developed presence would have a larger signature.  
  
“Ori, can you go one corridor down from me and flare your sensors? I think we’re going to need to triangulate this.”  
  
“Gotcha,” Ori pushed his way down the corridor they were in and stopped at the next junction. He checked his battery level before pushing out just a tiny tendril of the Force from behind his defenses and into his sensor pack. The distortion in the Force from the object flared suddenly in response, blinding his sensors and he pulled even his slight presence back, forcing himself to calm down from the 'stubbed toe' feeling the flare had created. Whatever this object was, the character of its Force presence was completely new to him in evoking the kind of 'synesthesia' he'd come to associate with the Dark side, but Rachi was right in saying there was no Dark side taint... Ori started as he realized even the normal background 'shadows' in the Force were suppressed... and he groaned inwardly at the implications of that... namely that while he was feeling paranoid and jittery feeling like he was stumbling around a completely unlit room while both his physical and metaphysical vision were blinded by a spotlight, Rachi was almost certainly feeling the 'Do Things' euphoria the Light side would blind you with if you weren't careful. Ori's orneryness rose at that and he projected a bit of it in a renewed push into his sensors, the emotion restoring contrast and allowing him to start taking usable readings.  
  
“The readings I’m getting say we’re either on the right floor or its on the floor below us,” Ori didn’t let his revelations into his voice. “That said from where I’m sitting, we have about twenty meters towards the aft to go… and between ten and fifteen degrees to port.”  
  
“That matches what I’m seeing,” Rachi called back, her voice rising in excitement. “Do you think it's down the corridor you’re standing in or the next one over?”  
  
“Neither, it's in one of the compartments between the two…” Ori paused as he thought it over and he tried to remember the specs on this hulk. “How big are the compartments supposed to be on this level?”  
  
“Judging by the plans…” Rachi trailed off as she brought up her copy of the schematics and zoomed in. “Two and a half meters by three it looks like. Then again what I have are the general schematics for the class not…”  
  
“As built plans for the ship,” Ori only barely repressed a sigh at that as he contemplated his answer. He brought a vector to life on his sensor display and aligned it with the center of the disturbance before trying to visualize where the line ended. Not having the plans in his suit’s computer, he couldn’t bring up a mapping program to take a look so he was left doing all the work in his head. “I would say we need to go one more corridor down before we start moving aft.”  
  
“That’s what my mapping program shows,” Rachi replied letting him know she had been doing the same work he had only with better resources. She pushed off, bounding down the corridor they were in past Ori to the next junction. “Come on, lets see what this is.”  
  
Or followed her at a more sedate pace, Rachi's excitement was infectious intellectually since whatever they found at the end of their search would be a discovery. Emotionally was another story, his instincts were warning him to be cautious and protective of Rachi while she was seemingly in the grips of Force 'euphoria.' That growing sense of caution got a boost as he walked down the next corridor. The paint was visibly getting newer as they approached the epicentre of the Force distortion. It went from faded tans with a stripe of red running down the corridor to crisp soothing earth tones with the stripe firming up to a blood red slash dividing the corridor in half vertically. That was an unsettling effect.  
  
“Rachi, have you noticed anything about the walls in this section?” Ori tried to be casual with his question, but he could hear the tension in his own voice.  
  
“No, looks the same as it has throughout this hulk,” Rachi’s confusion was evident. “Have you seen anything?”  
  
"The paint is newer here.” Ori’s less then calm assertion caused Rachi to stop and play her light over the walls for a minute.  
  
“I don’t see it,” Rachi’s voice was beginning to show some tension. “It might be your Force sense expressing itself in a nonstandard way… definitely something to mention when we get back to the ship.”  
  
With that they continued down the corridor. Ori paid close attention to the walls and noted when the paint began to fade again. He was paying such close attention to the paint he almost ran into Rachi’s back as she stopped in the middle of the corridor. With amusement he watched as she retraced her steps a few times, back tracking and then going forward almost to his position.  
  
“Rachi?”  
  
“I know there’s something here, I just walked past it, I just can’t sense where!” Rachi’s frustration wasn’t only in her voice, it showed in the way she was standing as well.  
  
“Perhaps another sensor sweep?”  
  
“Right,” Rachi seemed invigorated by Ori’s question. “Go three meters down the corridor, I want to try and triangulate exactly where this is…”  
  
“Floor or ceiling?”  
  
“Take the ceiling, that will give me a more exact vertical bearing,” Rachi said decisively.  
  
Ori pushed himself down the corridor, landing on the ceiling and locking his boots into place while he brought up the sensor system. Without him pushing the Force into it, It didn’t report anything, unsurprisingly, and he licked his suddenly dry lips as he felt Rachi begin to pour the Force into her own sensor pack. Briefly he toyed with the idea of reporting that he wasn't getting any clear readings, but it would be a stupid lie. Rachi was certainly good enough of a Jedi to know when he was using the Force and when he wasn’t. Besides his assertion about the paint changing told her that he could sense there was something close by. She would just sarcastically insist he use the sensor technique to check again, properly this time. Closing his eyes Ori gently teased just a tiny bit of Force from behind his defenses and into his sensor pack. If Rachi was right, and knowing the games that the Force liked to play, she probably was, he wouldn’t need much.  
  
Closing his eyes and ignoring the burning beacon of energy in front of him Ori began to sort through what his sensor pack was telling him. There wasn’t much, returns off the plating, but just outside of his range he could sense the slightest flicker of Force energy that was distinct from the blinding metaphysical spotlight. It was gaining in intensity as if responding to Rachi’s more powerful presence. Ori gulped, and thought about locking down his signature, before shaking himself out of it. That wouldn’t do any good with Rachi right beside him radiating like a lighthouse on a moonless night herself. Instead he increased the amount of Force he was using, just a smidge, enough to get a sense of where the object they were looking for was located.  
  
“forty-two degrees vertical, three hundred and fifty horizontal,” Ori’s voice was calm even as he was trying to keep his paranoia and ornery'ness from crashing together. He didn’t think that this was likely to be dangerous but… this ship had disappeared from Republic service at some point during the cold war and no one seemed to know just where it was and what it had been doing. They could very well be tracking down a Sith object with no idea of just what they were getting into. With that in mind he actively probed the presence, focusing his sensor system on that point. The sheer absence of malice, darkness and danger was wrapping Ori's emotions around to it being the very definition of an abomination in Ori's mind... an abomination that, like everything Force related, he just had to deal with.  
  
Rachi decided that it was the perfect time to move, disrupting his ruminations, as she wrenched the emergency access panel off the wall and pulled down, popping the door behind which Ori had a sinking certainty that the object rested. In a split-second Ori decided, he wasn’t armed and was probably paranoid enough to deal with Sith Force enticements, he moved. Pushing off the ceiling he was through the door before it finished opening. Rachi didn’t have time to object before he was through the door and locked down in the middle of the room, slowly playing his search light over the room. There wasn’t anything here! Ori slowly scanned the room as Rachi followed him in, floating up to anchor on the ceiling in a mirror of the positions they had held a minute ago, all he could see was bare metal, not even the fittings remained.  
  
“Scan again,” Rachi’s voice bubbled with excitement, Ori had to fight down the impulse to snap at her now. He knew this was the sort of thing she lived for but it was still kriffing dangerous and now wasn’t the time to let excitement get the better of good sense.  
  
Still, her directions made sense, and Ori couldn’t find a reason to object. He returned his attention to the sensor pack and slowly took a step; the signature was directly below him! Ori’s reaction was to leap up to the ceiling, bringing the plasma cutter up as if it was a weapon and pointing it straight down. Nothing leapt out at him and he relaxed slightly, bringing the cutter down.  
  
“Really?” Rachi was highly amused by Ori’s reaction to finding he was standing on what they were searching for. “You know there are things in the galaxy which aren’t threats…”  
  
“Force imbued objects which have gone undiscovered for who knows how long on a ship which was actively stripped by attentive yard dogs, without finding it,” Ori paused as he noted the placement of the vents on the floor. He knew where it was now, so he shut down his sensor technique and quickly checked his power level. Even as he spoke, he let the cutter float and began to replace the supplemental battery, its charge wasn’t exactly low but it had lost more than he was comfortable with. “On a ship which disappeared from Republic service at a time when the Sith were active…”  
  
“Well it wasn’t sitting under your feet,” Rachi’s amusement wasn’t tempered by Ori’s mini rant. “So, I doubt that your plasma cutter would do you any good.”  
  
“If it had been just sitting there, I would feel a hell of a lot better about this. It would be a joke by one of the Green Jedi on the poor saps who train out here from the City temple,” Ori let his tension bleed into his voice as he said that. “Instead it's hidden in a kriffing air duct, put away like a piece of contraband.”  
  
“Recovered from a Jedi and the crewman didn’t want to let anyone know about it?” Rachi speculated.  
  
“Or hidden because they knew that the Jedi assigned to them wouldn’t have approved of keeping it!”  
  
“No way to know for sure until we get eyes on it,” Rachi floated down to the floor and began the laborious process of removing the floor plating. Ori hesitated for a moment before joining her. It didn’t take them too long to get the single panel of durasteel up and floating in the room like a table without legs, exposing the duct in which they were both certain that their prized resided. Rachi pulled her lightsaber only for Ori to grab her wrist, stopping her from using it as a cutting implement.  
  
“Use mundane means, we don’t know what this is and it might react to a saber,” Ori cautioned.  
  
“Damn… you’re right,” Rachi shook her head ruefully and pulled her own torch out. “I should have thought about that…”  
  
“Yes, you should have,” Ori’s voice was tense as they removed the top of the vent. “Make sure to use a grabber and not the Force.”  
  
“I’m not going to completely forget my training,” Rachi nudged the bit of duct out of the way and pulled out a grabber. Ori couldn’t see into the duct from where he was, increasing his tension, but after a minute of searching Rachi pulled back, her prize gripped in the durasteel fingers of her grabber.  
  
It was a six-sided pyramid, white with blue light escaping from the edges, pulsing a gentle blue glow into the dark room. A golden image ran up the sides of the pyramid, looking like a simplified star destroyer split in half. Upon seeing it Ori could feel his tension increasing, a kriffing holocron was the last thing he had expected to find here.  
  
“Pyramidal, interesting design motif, I don’t think it’s a darksider artifact but…” Rachi trailed off as she brought it closer to her face to examine it. “Six sides, interesting. This is a contradiction in construction. The shape is Sith, no question about that, but the numerology is pure Jedi. Not to mention I haven’t ever seen heraldry like this before, and the coloration isn’t established.”  
  
“Let’s get this back to Master Coris before we do anything else,” Ori voiced his nervousness.  
  
“Oh, definitely, I’m not going to be opening this without her looking it over first,” Rachi’s reply was distracted, but her excitement still shone through as she continued. “Still…. This is going to open up some interesting avenues of research for me. Almost nothing here is familiar, this is going to be fun!”

* * *

The holocron hung suspended by force fields in the middle of the room, its deep blue glow just short of brilliant as it cast an acute glow around it. Skrath Kri couldn’t help but glare at the offending item, as he had been for the past two days. No one was willing to let it go unwatched, and as he had the least mobile work, he'd been nominated to keep an eye on it. Knight Coris might not believe that it was a threat, her padawan being drawn to it aside, but its rapid empowerment in a living environment and nonstandard construction had everyone else on edge. The damn thing didn’t make any sense, especially the way it had been found.

So instead of being comfortable in his quarters, Skrath spent his time doing paperwork while keeping an eye on the holocron and hoping that Master Nu had luck on identifying it. The Force might have brought it to their attention, but taking Ori as his padawan had presented some fundamental philosophical challenges to Skrath's beliefs on the Unifying Force... namely that the Force might not be as 'unified' as he'd always believed. The Dark side geometry of the holocron combined with the 'Lightness' of its presence to create a seeming inversion of emotions and rationality. Emotionally, the holocron felt completely harmless, bringing the image of a blank journal without even the name of its previous owner written on it to his mind. Rationally he 'knew' he was staring at a Sith holocron that needed containment until its provenance was ascertained, and the rest of the expedition had backed him up on his desires, overriding their archaeologist.

Skrath had the feeling that her resistance had more to do with putting down a marker for later use than anything else. Renee certainly hadn’t fought nearly as hard as he thought she would have. Part of that was her awareness of the dangers an unknown holocron could represent, the other… he wasn’t entirely sure, but he thought she had a plan. Given who had found this particular mystery and how she had found it, Skrath was inclined to think that Renee was more concerned with her Padawan getting access to the holocron than anything else. Given its mysterious provenance that normally wouldn’t be in the cards but… it was very possible that the Force was speaking, and given that they were Jedi, listening to it was a given. Well, as long as Ori didn’t have a say in things, his distrust of the Force was becoming well known.

Pausing the paperwork, he was doing Skrath shook his head at his Padawan's latest antics. They didn’t in any way surprise him, after all Ori’s picture might as well be up on the holonet under the definition of stubborn and ornery. Still, why his Padawan felt that spending the time following a major discovery like this was best spent checking and cleaning all the weapons on board the ship was a question he didn’t want to answer. Skrath wanted very much to pass it off as nothing more than Ori's inherent paranoia and heightened sensitivity to the holocron's 'energizing' presence in the Force, but the idea that it had also 'energized' Ori's prescience had frustratingly crossed his mind. Without Mundi around to interpret his observations and the Green Jedi 'amusingly' referring him to Mundi when he'd inquired if any of them could assist; he'd fallen back on Tulgree's advice and so spent far more more time than he'd wanted or planned to in the ship's salle running lightsaber drills and roping anyone he could into sparring practice.

Most of his sparring time had been spent with Renee, who was also looking to burn off some of her nervous energy. She was an interesting opponent to face, having specialized in Shii-Cho and never bothering to develop her skills in any of the others. That was an unusual choice, most Jedi went for one of the more common forms, or if they weren’t interested in the saber choosing to use Niman. Renee wasn’t a master of the form by any stretch of the imagination, but she did have a workmanlike competence which presented an interesting challenge. She was old enough, and practiced enough, to know how to match his less than perfect Makashi. Skrath was well aware that had less to do with her skill in her chosen form, he could see the holes in her defense every time they spared, and more to do with her experience. The result being that most every time he thought he was winning she would pull out a new combination and he would end up on the back foot yet again. It was frustrating and educational at the same time.

“Still in here brooding?” Renee said as she entered the room, looking around with what looked like mild interest.

“Someone has to keep watch and the Explorers all have jobs to do,” Skrath replied lightly. “Finally get some answers?”

“More like questions,” Renee grimaced as she admitted that. “The Temple got back to me with a few possibilities…”

“No certainty?”

“That would make life too easy for us. Anyway, I wanted to have a talk with you before we decide what to do with this thing.”

“The Temple didn’t have instructions?”

“They did, I’m trying to decide if following them is worth the cost of ignoring the Will of the Force.”

“What did they have to say?”

“The iconography is from the Eternal Empire,” Renee pulled up a seat and plopped down bonelessly. “The short story is it was a short-lived Force active political organization that either arose or simply made itself known during one of the dust ups between the Sith Empire and the Republic. They came out of nowhere and almost took over the galaxy with a robotic fleet. Naturally that made them enemy number one for all the other galactic powers and so their destruction came almost as quickly as their ascension. The interesting thing is that they had a unique take on the Force for the time, and several members of the sect joined the Jedi after their collapse.”

“So you're saying it might be safe for your Padawan to poke around with this holocron…”

“Right, but there is a problem. The first ‘Eternal Emperor’ was reputed to be a body hopping Sith. Not to mention that if we use this holocron, we'll be dealing with the philosophies, policies and morals of a very different Jedi Order. I’m not sure if the Jedi of today would have accepted any of their members, mostly because there isn’t much information on the sect.”

“Bodyjacking Sith emperor... and this holocron might be his work!?” Skrath focused on the more pertinent issue, at least in his own mind. Being around Ori, and arguing with him, had given him a wide enough perspective to know that Renee was right in her comments about the Jedi, that was just a fact and couldn’t be argued with.

“I doubt it, it lacks the deceptive nature inherent to Sith holocrons and it remaining undiscovered had everything to do with its lack of power. Honestly, without Ori's rather unique take on sensor boosting, I doubt Rachi could've pinpointed it to the Starfall but rather just have felt some vague pull towards that area of the boneyards. Getting it shipboard has been an educational experience for me, it blends in well with the background until you're looking directly at it or try and feel it directly with the Force. A Sith holocron wouldn’t feel like anything until it wanted to, and we wouldn’t have any knowledge of it until it decided to act. That’s part of what makes dealing with them such a pain in the ass. The other issue is if you say ‘Sith’ to the Temple they get their robes in a bunch and start demanding you do what they want to deal with it… and their evidence here is lacking.”

“Really?”

“The only people who claimed that the ‘Emperor’ was a Sith were the children he had who overthrew him, and they were both confirmed Dark siders. His wife, who ended up joining the Jedi by the way, didn’t think he was one. Add to that the destruction of primary sources due to the various wars, and... while you’ll never get me to say this in front of your Padawan, the purges that Master Quist presided over, we have very little background information on just what we’re dealing with.”

*ermghaaa* Skrath groaned as he wiped his hand over his face before glaring as hard as he could at the 'completely harmless' holocron constructed by an ancient Force active polity led by an 'Emperor' who might be up there with the most vile Sith Emperors... or... maybe not... “Sounds a bit dangerous to me, especially if you want Rachi to access and use it."

“It might be, but it’s been hanging out here in the black for millennium without anyone finding it, and then my Padawan is led straight to it? How am I to intrepid that other than it’s the will of the Force that my Padawan should have the access and use of it?"

“Still possible Sith? Sounds like a recipe for falling to me…”

“Right, but that’s not the only possibility. Like I said earlier there was an entire order of Force users who were an integral part of the ‘Empire’, and they were not universally dark side aligned. According to what Master Nu could dig up, the Knights of Zakuul were xenophobic and isolationist with an emphasis on sharing knowledge of the Force. Much closer to the Zaal She then any other organization, the only real 'fault' to a modern perspective was that they didn’t care which side of the Force a technique drew on…. and which is reflected in the seeming paradox of this holocron's physical geometry and Force presence."

“Temptation comes in many forms you know…”

“And this is the perfect form of temptation for Rachi, I know. We will need to vet it first, find out if truly is as blank as it seems and even if it is, to figure if it's still too dangerous for her to use. To that end there Nu did find the... 'Instruction Manual'... on handling the Eternal Empire holocrons stored at the Temple." Renee's face scrunched in chagrin as she spoke that last sentence.

"Instruction manual?" Skrath parroted back as a question

"The treatise's full title is "Instruction Manual: Eternal Empire Holocrons" and before you ask, yes it is as strange in its 'straighforwardness' as its title."

"So not only did the Force lead Rachi to this. We also have an Instruction Manual." Skrath grimaced as he thought about their options and how-to best deal with the situation. His own inclination would be to send it back to the Temple ASAP, but he wasn’t the Archaeologist here. Renee had dealt with the deceptions and dangers of Sith holocrons in the past, and he wasn’t arrogant enough to gainsay her in declaring this to be anything other than what she, in consultation with the Temple, had identified it as. On the other hand, her depth of knowledge and breadth of experience made it hard for him to disagree with her, subconsciously he had found himself deferring to her preferences due to the gap in experience and this might not be the best time to follow her lead. This wasn’t the time to allow his own insecurity to dictate his course of action, he would need to be sure of his decision no matter which way he went so he went back to the basics, calling up the Force and asking for guidance.

Falling into the Force was easy, he had trained himself well to use means other than meditation to clear his mind and focus on the evidence provided to guide him towards the truth... and he was immediately struck by the... obviousness... far past the point of insult at the title of the tome, and for the first time in his existence Skrath felt... affronted?.. by the Force. The strange annoyance giving him impetus to push past the blindingly obvious and look for other, more subtle and nuanced clues that could guide him further than 'Read Manual, Apply to Holocron.' And then, highlighted by the 'illumination' of the obvious clue, he saw the dark shroud existing in the present and stretching off far past his vision. He suddenly recalled one of his conversations with Master Mundi on the 'dark clouds' obscuring the sight of those Jedi with prognasticative abilities and basically gotten the impression that it existed in the future, rendering their future sight into something like his own where beyond the next few seconds it was nothing more than a blur of instincts and reflexes. He realized that while that impression might still be true, the shroud also existed in the present, obscuring some things while leaving others alone. For a few moments he tried to follow the trail of obscured evidence as evidence itself, but gave up as the light of obviousness faded and he ran into the blur of the future. Skrath opened his eyes and pondered what the Force had just revealed to him, the Dark side veil existed not just in the future but in the present. Unlike the future that it could obscure entirely along with itself, in the present it could only obscure its target, not itself... and with a bright and constant enough 'light' it might be possible to follow those puddles of darkness like a trail of blood back to its source... So much easier said than done, though... not the least of it being the 'character' of the Force while it was illuminating the trail of the Sith. Skrath suddenly felt a much greater appreciation for Ori's peculiarities.

If that was what Ori saw when he looked into the future it was no wonder he had been so set on leaving the Order. It was disturbing to see and feel, and avoiding it felt impossible. Clicking his tongue on his teeth Skrath cocked his head to the side and really thought. If that was what the more precognitively inclined Jedi were seeing instead of their normal visions, then they very well could be making a mistake born out of fear. His own blindness to the future actually gave him an edge here, he realized, knowing what the shroud looked like in the present meant he could start an evidence report and bring it to the attention of his fellow Investigators.

Putting aside his thoughts on the report, he returned to the matter at hand and the now brilliantly obvious truth that the Force clearly wanted Rachi to have access to and use of the holocron, and he was Jedi enough to follow its will. That still didn’t mean they needed to be stupid or credulous about it though. He and Renee would need to develop a plan to mitigate the potential dangers.

“What did you see?” Renee asked with a hint of trepidation, the Investigator 'quick trance' was unnerving to most other Jedi and she wasn't an exception to that.

"Enough to say the will of the Force is clear in wanting your Padawan to have the holocron, though why I couldn't tell you since whatever or whoever is working to cloud the future is also working to shroud the present. My best guess would be the Sith who revealed themselves during Naboo, it felt practiced and routine."

“Agreed, and I must say I’m impressed. Usually it takes a bit of meditation to drop into a trance like that, how did you do it so quickly?”

“Meditation is just clearing your mind so you can focus on a problem,” Skrath shrugged uncomfortably. “Can you really say your mind is fully engaged when you do paperwork? I find that doing paperwork or other bureaucratic drudgery clears my mind just as effectively as meditation. It’s not perfect but it does serve as a quick and dirty replacement when I want to act fast.”

"So that's the trick... so much simpler than I thought." Renee sighed in half resignation, half exasperation. "So, now that it seems our course is set, how much do you know about holocrons?” Renee leaned back in her seat and gave Skrath a once over, as if gauging him for something.

“Very little, I tend to be more involved in mundane matters then anything dealing with Force users. Not to say I haven’t come up against hostile Force users from time to time… but the majority of my expertise is in law enforcement.”

“Right, so the thing you have to understand about holocrons is that they are supposed to be living repositories of knowledge. Added to over the life span of a Force user so they can offer their knowledge after their death. Usually there is a guardian who controls how and when that knowledge is dispensed.” Renee shrugged lightly as she said that looking slightly uncomfortable. “This one? Not so much. Whomever made this one spent all of their time and effort recording the lessons and knowledge they wanted to pass on and then either didn’t get a chance to make that guardian or deliberately eschewed creating it. It's also why this particular one felt so weak in the Force. I’ve seen it before, but not recently.”

“So, if there isn’t a guardian, why are you worried?”

“Because of the knowledge. Most of the holocrons we keep in the restricted stacks aren’t from the Sith. They tend to be the oldest of the Jedi holocrons we’re recovered and talking to them? They had very different ideas about what is and isn’t acceptable. Not to mention they had a very different way of looking at the Force.” Renee paused, considering the basic courses of action, “So we crack it open first and take a poke around? No, both of the Padawans are going to feel us doing that.”

“Which means we do it while they are on vacation." Skrath replied easily.

“You think it’s only going to take us a couple of days to work through a Holocron?” Renee’s face clearly indicated her disbelief.

“You did say you thought it was a relatively new one… not much information there… and we do have that 'Instruction Manual' to hopefully know where to start and if we get stumped.” Skrath cocked his head to the side indicating he would accept that his assumption needed to be corrected without saying a word.

“On the scale of a holocron, possibly, but on normal scale? I don’t have a clue how much is there.” Renee bit her lip before continuing to explain the problem. This wasn’t an issue which normal Knights would run into regularly so she couldn’t exactly blame Skrath's lack of knowledge on willful ignorance, but it was a bit frustrating that something so central to the Jedi was so misunderstood. “You have to understand a holocron is a mixture of recorded data, display techknoladgy, and Force. When a holocron like this one doesn’t have much of a Force presence it doesn’t really tell us anything about the recorded media, it says more about the amount of Force work that whomever made this did. The lack of a guardian alone lessens the Force potential of this particular holocron, because that’s usually the most Force intensive part of the whole thing… You could theoretically get by with a simple indexing program…”

Skrath shook his head as Renee started to wander off into a theoretical blind alley and brought her back. “But you at least don’t think that’s the case, you’ve said before you think this is a 'new' holocron. I think it best if we start investigating while they’re on vacation and then go from there based on what we find.”

“And you think Rachi will accept that?”

“Probably, she is sensible after all. If it was Ori, I would be worried, he would be trying to get in as soon as he got back.” Skrath gave a minute shrug as he said that. From his observations Rachi tended to be the more level headed and accepting of the two Padawans, unlike his own.

“With the Force pushing her…” Renee inquired giving her fellow Knight a flat look. She was hardly the best in the Order at people and she could see the problem with his assertion.

“Ah.” Skrath's voice was chagrined and he raised his hand as if acknowledging a point in a sparring match.

“And I think she knows she can get Ori to do anything she wants. For someone with his paranoia problems he’s remarkably open to manipulation if it’s a pretty girl whose doing it.” Renees voice was prim as she spoke.

Skrath had to laugh at that. He had noticed just how Ori responded to Rachi; it wasn’t a problem yet as he didn’t think the boy had noticed his attraction, but it was something to keep an eye on as things went on; “Neither of them has noticed yet. I think we can thank the Temple's views on relationships for that. If they were normal teens, I would be worrying about getting them into medical before they went and did something out of character.”

“Rachi at least will talk to me first, and I think she’s the one we have to worry about. As attracted to her as he is, Ori seems remarkably dense about how she feels about him.”

“I think he’s assuming his own wants and desires are contaminating the Force. It’s a point I’ve hammered home a couple of times and he has listened to me, at least a bit. Now if he could only apply the lesson to his paranoia, I would be happy.”

Renee chuckled, “Never going to happen. When Master Nu briefed me on Ori I thought it was exaggeration and hyperbole, but then I brought it up during my attempt to get him to sensor boost normally... He truly is convinced that his paranoia is coming from the Force and not from within, despite what everyone else he encounters tells him. Still, problems for another day. Getting back in the hyperlane, just what else should we do before we unleash Rachi?”

“Given what you said about the knowledge, and views on the Force, of older sects… We’re going to have to give them both the point of view lesson in its entirety… it’s a little bit early but I can already see how being around the Explorer corps Jedi is making Ori twitchy. Their differing views on the Force and how we relate to it is confusing him a bit. If he ends up looking at this knowledge?”

Renee's eyebrow arched “Really? For all that we just discussed his paranoia, he seemed remarkably unbothered by it. I thought he would have been questioning before now to tell you the truth.”

“He’s holding himself back for the moment, but I can feel the questions he has. Besides it gives us a valid excuse for holding the two of them away from it. Ori will understand completely if we frame it as giving the two of them a point of reference.”

“Which is something we will need to do even if it’s as wholly Light sided as it appears to be now. I know of a couple of Jedi who didn’t understand other sects’ teachings and how their teachings related to the Force who ran into trouble because of that. None of them fell but it was a close-run thing, even with every technique being Light side oriented.”

“It’s not going to be a single lecture but a series of them…” Skrath paused and scratched his chin. He was beginning to grow stubble there and feeling it reminded him he needed to shave. Beards could be effective cover but they were a pain to maintain and he didn’t need the distraction. “Who takes the lead on teaching them?”

“I have the better knowledge but…” Renee shrugged helplessly. “There’s a reason I went into archaeological studies rather than a more direct Knighthood. Ancient ruins and artifacts make more sense than people. Not to mention the way your Padawan tends to shy away from anyone using the Force on him, even if it’s in a benign manner.”

“Right. Another reason to get them to go on vacation. I will need to time develop a proper lesson plan. This isn’t a lesson you can half ass…”

“Force knows you’re right about that… we send them off, when? later today?”

“By the end of the week. Let them decompress here for a few days before we let them go off on their own. Besides Ori is going to want to use the Serenity and…”

“Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”

* * *

Vacation had been surprisingly restful, Ori thought as he worked in the Light of Knowledge's machine shop on his latest project. Rachi had done the itinerary and he'd found himself enjoying his time without responsibilities. Some of the things they had seen had been downright fascinating, though he wasn’t nearly as intrigued as Rachi was with the minor Force blocking levels of the old Drall burrows they'd visited. Ori’s preference was more with the time they spent in Cornet, and especially the massive flea market they'd attended. That had been fun, especially hunting for treasure amidst the massive piles of junk. He wasn’t sure just what Rachi intended to do with her prizes, but his finds were going to be put to use.

Ordinarily Ori didn’t bother to do any wood working, it wasn’t a skill he had much interest in despite being capable, but the possibilities offered by a broken Worskyr wood stave he had found at the market had been too interesting to pass up. Seeing it sitting on that table surrounded by junk and ideas had started to pop into his head. For the moment he was limiting himself to the opportunity to learn a new weapon, and to work on his grip strength, something that had been commented on by a few Masters back in the Temple. Ori hadn’t been willing to dismiss their advice and had been working on it but it was boring to sit there and squeeze a grip strengthener over and over again. Dull and repetitive, something he had issues with when working out, it would be much more fun to use his new batons to strengthen his grip.

The first idea he was putting into action was to fashion a pair of batons out of the broken stave, thirty centimetres of solid wood with a five-centimetre end cap of durasteel. They were short enough that he would never confuse them with his sabers, and they were heavy enough that using them would make it a decent work out. It would also give him the opportunity to see how the forms translated into a shorter weapon, or if he was going to be spending time searching for a galactic variant of Escrima. With the two broken end pieces taken care of he was left with the remainder of the stave to play with. He hadn’t decided what to do with it, but he had a feeling he would be making it into a dress version of his batons at the vary least. Other ideas might come to him but for the moment he was content with what he had. Given Skrath's specialty he wouldn’t put it past the man to have them both go under cover without their sabers, and having batons meant he would hopefully be able to keep up his saber practice without giving away his status as a Jedi.

“Finished?” Rachi asked from behind him, making Ori jump slightly.

“Just about,” Ori replied turning slightly to see what she wanted. Her dejected gait told him everything he needed to know. She had made another run at the holocron while everyone was distracted getting the ship ready for its journey to Bespin and been slapped down. “For the two I had planned on anyway… the last one? That’s going to take some time before I’m really sure what I’m doing with it.”

“I still don’t know why you got that broken stave and the deactivated and disarmed OOM command variant battle droid,” Rachi shook her head and jumped up to sit on one of the counters. “I thought you would have cleaned out the used book store…”

“I got a few volumes,” Ori defended himself lightly. “It’s just that most of what they had was fiction and their history section had been picked clean of most everything aside from pop histories I could buy anywhere. Besides, you’re one to talk, I saw the dozen staves and blanks you bought.”

“I know, I don’t know why I got them,” Rachi grimaced as she admitted that. “Something about them just called to me. Still, I didn’t know you worked with wood?”

“Hardly wood working, just sanding everything down till its smooth and attaching an end cap.” Ori offered her one of the batons he'd just finished working on. “They will let me keep in practice no matter what the assignment is.”

“Ah,” Rachi jumped down and ran through a few of the opening drills for form one. “Heavy… are you sure this won’t throw you off when you move back to sabers?”

“Probably not, I'm mostly worried about my grip strength. I figure if I run a few drills with these as part of my warm up then I'll be golden… plus I can finally get rid of the grip strengthener you were complaining about.”

“Like you would,” Rachi rolled her eyes. “You could have just bought a bottle of oil you know?”

“Tried that, didn’t work,” Ori dismissed her idea with a shrug. “So, what insanity do you want to talk me into this time?”

“Why do you think I’m going to be the one who’s trying to talk you into anything?”

“Experience maybe?”

“Like I was the one who dragged us into that spacers bar and started singing in the middle of a wake.”

“It’s bad luck to ignore a pilot's send off,” Ori... fibbed?.. in truth he didn’t really know what had possessed him to do that, but he wasn’t about to admit it. “Besides, aside from my tone deafness, you can’t tell me that the song wasn’t appropriate. The spacers liked it.”

“Oh yes, because lyrics like; 'Take the carbon rods out of my kidneys/take the navcomp out of my brain/ and assemble my star ship again' are geared towards anyone but a pilot. I still can’t find that song anywhere in the archives you know.”

“Don’t look at me,” Ori held up his hands defensively as Rachi pointed the baton she had been testing directly at him. “I told you it was a half-remembered song I had heard at another Corellian wake!”

“That you did,” Rachi frowned as she swung the baton again. “You need to put a grip on these, otherwise you're going to lose them once you start sweating.”

“Any ideas? I doubt that saber grip wrap would work…”

“It wouldn’t be right anyway,” Rachi closed her eyes and Ori could feel a pulse of Force from her. “No, these need a natural substance for the grip. Leather wraps would be best I think…”

“I’ll probably need to wait until we get to Bespin before I can do that, damn… I was hoping to get used to them before our new combat trainer arrives.”

“You think that’s why we’re picking up another Jedi? Not the dangers of the Sith worlds?”

“I mean, those dangers are obviously a factor, but a Guardian with a renowned and controversial sense of what is appropriate training and a fresh Padawan gets added to our expedition despite the fact that neither of our Masters know her?”

“Point… of course they haven’t been interested in teaching at the moment…”

“I think they’re leading up to something, and not letting you at the holocron you found isn’t a lack of interest in teaching.” Ori cocked his head to the side. “Sure, it’s interesting but, why are you so invested in this?”

“Because its new knowledge!” Rachi’s voice rose as she spoke, clearly affronted. “Master Nu knew barely anything about these Knights of Zakuul. It’s almost completely undiscovered country and that’s the sort of thing that any historian or archaeologist should live for. We have the opportunity to discover so much, to add to our understanding of the Force and the history of the galaxy... and we aren’t acting on it!”

“I think we will be,” Ori said after a moment, just letting her run out of steam. “Mind passing me that back?”

“Really?” Rachi passed Ori the baton and stepped back giving him room to maneuver.

“Yeah, Skrath's gearing up for a major lesson or three,” Ori grunted out as his arms got used to swinging the batons through the warm up for Jar’Kai. “He’s been hitting the books pretty regularly while we’ve been in hyper and he’s acting more like he’s checking to make sure his memory is correct than if he was learning something new. Kriff, this is more difficult than I thought.”

“I’d say…” Rachi hummed as she walked around Ori, taking in his form. “You are going to have to do a lot of work before your comfortable showing them to anyone. Unless your pride in your saber work has decreased since the match with Secura?”

“Hardly, and that had very little to do with my pride in my saber skills and more to do with her being a condescending aristo.”

“As if you weren’t worse to her…”

“She started it.”

“Changing the subject, any reason you started with this project? I thought you would have been deep in the guts of the OOM you bought…”

“That’s brain work, and I want to be ready when we get to Bespin. Raskta has a reputation for driving her students and if I look like I’m doing more than expected.”

“She might go easy on you.”

“Maybe… or she’ll see potential and try to polish it up. Honestly either way I win. Besides, given that neither of us has assigned work right now?”

“Preparation to save yourself some trouble.”

“Exactly, care to join me running a couple of single saber forms in the gym? It’ll take your mind off the holocron at least.”


End file.
